
Oast V ( 0">>'2. 
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9~ REPORT 






ON THE 



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AFFAIRS OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



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FROM THE 



EARL OF DURHAM, 

HER MAJESTY'S HIGH COMMISSIONER, 

&c. &c. &c, 



(Officially communicated to both Houses of the Imperial Parliament, on the 11th of 

February, 1839.) 



MONTREAL I 

PRINTED AT THE MORNING COURIER OFFICE, *T. TRANCOIt XAVIER ITREET. 

1839. 






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REPORT, &e. 



To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. 

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY : — 

Your Majesty in entrusting me with the Government of the Province 
of Lower Canada, during the critical period of the suspension of its 
Constitution, was pleased, at the same time, to impose on me a task of 
equal difficulty, and of far more permanent importance, by appointing 
me " High Commissioner for the adjustment of certain important ques- 
tions depending in the Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada, respecting 
the form and future Government of the said Provinces." To enable me 
to discharge this duty with the greater efficiency, I was invested, not only 
with the title, but with the actual functions of Governor General of all 
your Majesty's North American Provinces ; and my instructions restrict- 
ed my authority by none of those limitations that had, in fact, deprived 
preceding Governors of Lower Canada of all controul over the other 
Provinces, which, nevertheless, it had been the practice to render nomi- 
nally subordinate to them. It was in addition, therefore, to the exclusive 
management of the administrative business of an extensive and disturbed 
Province, to the legislative duties that were accumulated on me during 
the abeyance of its representative government, and to the constant com- 
munications which I was compelled to maintain, not only with the 
Lieutenant-Governors, but also with individual inhabitants of the other 
five Provinces, that J had to search into the nature and extent of the 
questions of which the adjustment is requisite for the tranquillity of the 
Canadas ; to set on foot various and extensive inquiries into the institu. 
tions and administration of those Provinces ; and, to devise such reforms 
in the system of their Government as might repair the mischief which 
had already been done, and lay the foundations of order, tranquillity, and 
improvement. 

The task for providing for the adjustment of questions affecting the 
very •« form and administration of civil government was naturally lim. 
ited in the two provinces in which the settlement of such questions had 
been rendered matter of urgent necessity, by the events that had in one 
seriously endangered, and in the other actually suspended, the working 
of the existing constitution. But though the necessity only reached thus 
far, the extension of my authority over all the British provinces in North 
America, for the declared purpose of enabling me more effectually to ad- 
just the constitutional questions then at issue, in two of them, together 
with the specific instructions contained in Despatches from the Secretary 
of State, brought under my view the character and influence of the in. 
stitutions established in all. I found in all these Provinces a form of 
Government so nearly the same — institutions generally so similar, and 
occasionally so connected — and interests, feelings and habits so much in 
common, that it was obvious, at the first glance, that my conclusions 
would be formed without a proper use of the materials at my disposal, 
unless my inquiries were as extended as my power of making them.— 
How inseparably connected I found the interests of your Majesty's Pro. 
vinces in North America, to what degree I met with common disorders, 
requiring common remedies, is an important topic, which it will be my 
duty to discuss very fully before closing this report. My object at pre- 



sent is merely to explain the extent of the task imposed on me, and to 
point out the fact, that an inquiry originally directed only to two, has ne. 
cessarily been extended over all your Majesty's Provinces in North Ameri. 
ca. 

While I found the field of inquiry thus large, and every day's experi- 
ence and reflection impressed more deeply on my mind the importance 
of that decision which it would be my duty to suggest, it became equally 
clear that that decision, to be of any avail, must bo prompt and final. I 
needed no personal observation to convince me of this ; for the evils I 
had it in charge to remedy are evils which no civilized community can 
long continue to bear. There is no class or section of your Majesty's 
subjects in either of the Canadas that does not suffer from both the ex- 
isting disorder and the doubt which hangs over the future form and poli- 
cy of the Government. While the present state of things is allowed to 
last, the actual inhabitants of these Provinces have no security for per- 
eon or property, no enjoyment of what they possess, no stimulus to in- 
dustry. The developement of the vast resources of these extensive terri- 
tories is arrested ; and the population, which should be attracted to fill 
and fertilize them, is directed into foreign states. Every day during 
which a final and stable Settlement is delayed the condition of the Colo- 
nies becomes worse, the minds of men more exasperated, and the success 
of any scheme of adjustment more precarious. 

I was aware of the necessity of promptitude in my decision on the most 
important of the questions committed to me at a very early period after 
my acceptance of the mission which your Majesty was pleased to confide 
to me. Before leaving England, I assured your Majesty's ministers that 
the plan which I should suggest for the future Government of the Cana- 
das should be in readiness by the commencement of the ensuing session ; 
and, though I had made provision that, under any circumstances, the 
measures which I might suggest should be explained and supported in 
Parliament by some person who would have had a share in the prepara- 
tion of them, I added, that it was not improbable that I might deem it 
my paramount duty towards the Provinces entrusted to me to attend in 
my place in the House of Lords, for the purpose of explaining my own 
views, and supporting my own recommendations. My resignation of the 
office of Governor General has therefore in no wise precipitated my sug. 
gestion of the plan which appears to me best calculated to settle the fu- 
ture form and policy of Government in the Canadas. It has prevent- 
ed, certainly, my completing some inquiries which I had instituted, with 
a view of effecting practical reforms of essential, but still of subordinate 
importance. But with the chief of my duties as High Commissioner — 
that of suggesting the future constitution of these Colonies, that event has 
interfered in no way, except in so far as the circumstances which at- 
tended it, occasioned an undue intrusion of extraneous business on the 
time which was left for the completion of my labours. 

In truth, the administrative and legislative business which daily de- 
manded my attention could, with difficulty, be discharged by the most un- 
remitting labour on my own part, and on that of all those who accompa- 
nied me from England, or were employed by me in Canada. 

It is in these circumstances, and under such disadvantages, that this 
report has been prepared. I may not therefore present as extended and 
as complete a foundation as I could have wished, for those measures of 
vast and permanent importance which Parliament will find it necessary 
to adopt. But it will include the whole range of those subjects which it 
is essential should be brought under your Majesty's view, and will prove 
that I have not rested content without fully developing the evils which lie at 
the root of the disorders of the North American Provinces, and at the 
same time suggesting remedies which, to the best of my judgment, will 
provide an effectual cure. 

The same reasons and the same obstacles have prevented me from an- 
nexing a greater amount of detail and illustration, which, under more fa. 
vorable circumstances, it would have been incumbent on me to collect,for 
the purpose of rendering clear and familiar to every mind every par- 



licular of a state of things on which little correct and much false infor- 
mation has hitherto been current in this country. I cannot, therefore, 
but deeply regret that such a drawback on its efficacy should have been 
a necessary conseqnence of the circumstances under which the report 
has been prepared. I still hope that the materials collected by me, 
though not as ample as I could have desired, will, nevertheless, be found 
sufficient for enabling the Imperial Legislature to form a sound decision 
on the important interests which are involved in the result of its deliber- 
ations. 

These interests are indeed of great magnitude ; and on the course 
which your Majesty and your Parliament may adopt, with respect to the 
North American colonies, will dopend the future destinies, not only of 
the million and a half of your Majesty's subjects who at present inhabit 
those provinces, but of that vast population which those ample and fer- 
tile territories are fit and destined hereafter to support. No portion of 
the American continent possesses greater natural resources for the main- 
tenance of large and flourishing communities. An almost boundless 
range of the richest soil still remains unsettled, and may be rendered 
available for the purposes ot agriculture. The wealth of inexhaustible 
forests of the best timber in America, and of extensive regions of the 
most valuable minerals, have has yet been scarcely touched. Along the 
whole line of sea-coast, around each island, and in every river, are to be 
be found the greatest and richest fisheries in the world. The best fuel and 
the most abundant water-power are available for the coarser manufac- 
tures, for which an easy and certain market will bo found. Trade with 
other continents is favored by the possession of a large number of safe 
and specious harbours ; long, deep, and numerous rivers, and vast inland 
seas supply the means of easy intercourse ; and the structure of the 
country generally affords the utmost facility for every species of commu- 
nication by land. Unbounded materials of agricultural, commercial, and 
manufacturing industry are there : it depends upon the present decision 
of the Imperial Legislature to determine for whose benefit they are to be 
rendered available. The country which has founded and maintained 
these colonies at a vast expense of blood and treasure, may justly expect 
its compensation in turning their unappropriated resources to the account 
of its own redundant population ; they are the rightful patrimony of the 
English people, the ample apanage which God and nature have set aside 
in the new world for those whose lot has assigned them but insufficient 
portions in the old. Under wise and free institutions these great advan- 
tages may yet be secured to your Majesty's subjects, and a connection 
secured by the link of kindred origin, and mutual benefits may continue 
to bind to the British empire the ample territories of its North American 
provinces, and the large and flourishing population by which they will 
assuredly be filled. 

Lower Canada. 
The prominent place which the dissensions of Lower Canada had, for 
some years, occupied in the eyes of the Imperial Legislature, the alarm- 
ing state ef disorder indicated or occasioned by the recent insurrection, 
and the paramount necessity of my applying my earliest efforts to the re- 
establishment of free and regular government in that particular colony, in 
which it was then wholly suspended, necessarily directed my first inqui- 
ries to the province of which the local government was vested in my 
hands. The suspension of the constitution gave me an essential advan- 
tage over my predecessors in the conduct of my inquiries ; it not merely 
relieved me from the burden of constant discussions with the legislative 
bodies, but it enabled me to turn my attention from the alleged to the 
real grievances of the province ; to leave on one side those matters of 
temporary contest which accident or the interests and passions of parties 
had elevated into undue importance ; and, without reference to the re- 
presentations of the disputants, to endeavour to make myself master of 
the real condition of the people, and the real causes of dissatisfaction or 
suffering. It was also a great advantage to me in one respect that the 



6 

ordinary business of the government of the province was combined with 
the functions of my inquiry. The routine of every day's administrative 
business brought strongly and familiarly before me the working of the 
institutions on which I was called to judge. The condition of the peo- 
ple, the system by which they were governed, were thus rendered fami- 
liar to me, and I soon became satisfied that I must search in the very 
composition of society, and in the fundamental institutions of govern- 
ment, for the causes of the constant and extensive disorder which I wit- 
nessed. 

The lengthened and various discussions which had for some years been 
carried on between the contending parties in the colony, and the repre- 
sentations which had been circulated at home, had produced in mine, as 
in most minds in England, a very erroneous view of the parties at issue 
in Lower Canada. The quarrel which I was sent for the purpose of 
healing, had been a quarrel between the executive government and the 
popular branch of the legislature. The latter body had, apparently, been 
contending for popular rights and free government. The executive gov- 
ernment had been defending the prerogative of the Crown, and the insti- 
tutions which, in accordance with the principles of the British constitu- 
tion, had been established as checks on the unbridled exercise of popular 
power. Though, during the dispute, indications had been given of the 
existence of dissensions, yet deeper and more formidable than any which 
arose from simply political causes, I had still, in common with most of 
my countrymen, imagined that the original and constant source of the 
evil was to be found in the defects of the political institutions of the pro- 
vinces ; that a reform of the constitution, or perhaps merely the intro- 
duction of a sounder practice into the administration of the government, 
would remove all causes of contest and complaint. This opinion was 
strengthened by the well-known fact, that the political dissensions which 
had produced their most formidable results in this province, had assum- 
ed a similar, though milder, form in the neighbouring colonies ; and that 
the tranquillity of each of the North American provinces was subject to 
constant disturbance from collision between the executive and the repre- 
sentatives of the people. The constitutions of these colonies, the official 
characters and positions of the contending parties, the avowed subjects 
of dispute, and the general principles asserted on each side, were so sim- 
ilar, that I could not but concur in the very general opinion, that the 
common quarrel was the result of some common defect in the almost 
identical institutions of these provinces. I looked on it as a dispute 
analogous to those with which history and experience have made us so 
familiar in Europe — a dispute between a people demanding an extension 
of popular privileges on the one hand, and an executive, on the other, 
defending the powers which it conceived necessary for the maintenance 
of order. I supposed that my principal business would be that of deter- 
mining how far each party might be in the right, or which was in the 
wrong; of devising some means of removing the defects which had oc- 
casioned the collision ; and of restoring such a balance of the constitu- 
tional powers as might secure the free and peaceful working of the ma- 
chine of government. 

In a Despatch which I addressed to your Majesty's Principal Secreta- 
ry of State for "the Colonies, on the 9th of August last, I detailed with 
great minuteness the impressions which had been produced on my mind 
by the state of things which existed in Lower Canada : I acknowledge 
that the experience derived from my residence in the Province had com- 
pletely changed my view of the relative influence of the causes which 
had been assigned for the existing disorders. I had not, indeed, been 
brought to believe that the institutions of Lower Canada were less de- 
fective than I had originally presumed them to be. From the peculiar 
circumstances in which I was placed, I was enabled to make such effec. 
tual observations as convinced me that there had existed in the constitu- 
tion of the Province, in the balanco of political powers, in the spirit and 
practice of administration in every department of the Government, de- 
fects that were quite sufficient to account for a great degree of misman. 



mgement and dissatisfaction. The same observation had also impressed 
on me the conviction that, for the peculiar and disastrous dissensions of 
this Province, there existed a far deeper and far more efficient cause — a 
cause which penetrated beneath its political institutions into its social 
state — a cause which no leform of constitution or laws that should leave 
the elements of society unaltered could remove, but which must be re- 
moved ere any success could be expected in any attempt to remedy the 
many evils of this unhappy Province. I expected to find a contest be- 
tween a Government and a People : I found two nations warring in the 
bosom of a single state: I found a struggle, not of principles, but of 
races ; and I perceived that it would be idle to attempt any amelioration 
of laws or institutions, until we could first succeed in terminating the 
deadly animosity that now separates the inhabitants of Lower Canada 
into the hostile divisions of French and English. 

It would be vain for me to expect that any description I can give will 
impress on your Majesty such a view of the animosity of these races as 
my personal experience in Lower Canada has forced on me. Our happy 
immunity from any feelings of national hostility, renders it difficult for 
us to comprehend the intensity of the hatred which the difference of 
language, of laws, and of manners, creates between those who inhabit 
the same village, and are citizens of the same state. We are ready to 
believe that the real motive of the quarrel is something else ; and that 
the difference of race has slightly and occasionally aggravated dissen- 
sions, which we attribute to some more usual cause. Experience of a 
state of society, so unhappily divided as that of Lower Canada leads to 
an exactly contrary opinion. The national feud forces itself on the very 
senses, irresistibly and palpably, as the origin or the essence of every 
dispute which divides the community ; we discover that dissensions, 
which appear to have another origin, are but forms of this constant and 
all-pervading quarrel ; and that every contest is one of French and Eng- 
lish in the outset, or becomes so ere it has run its course. 

The political discontents, for which the vicious system of Government 
has given too much cause, have for a long time concealed or modified 
the influence of the national quarrel. It has been argued that origin can 
have but little effect in dividing the country, inasmuch as individuals of 
each race have constantly been enlisted together on the side of Gov- 
ernment, or been found united in leading the assembly to assail its alle- 
ged abuses ; that the names of some of the prominent leaders of the 
rebellion mark their English, while those of some of the most unpopular 
supporters of the government denote their French origin ; and that the 
representatives, if not an actual majority (as has occasionally been as- 
serted,) at any rate of a large proportion of the purely English popula- 
tion, have been found constantly voting with the majority of 1 the assem- 
bly against what is called the British part} . Temporary and local causes 
have, no doubt, to a certain extent, produced such results. The national 
hostility has not assumed its permanent influence till of late years, nor 
has it exhibited itself every where at once. While it displayed itself long 
ago in the cities of Quebec and Montreal, where the leaders and masses 
of the rival races most speedily came into collision, the inhabitants of the 
Eastern Townships, who were removed from all personal contact with 
the French, and those of the District below Quebec, who experienced 
little interference from the English, continued to a very late period to 
entertain comparatively friendly feelings towards those of the opposite 
races. But this is a distinction which has unfortunately, year after year, 
been exhibiting itself more strongly, and diffusing itself more widely. — 
One by one the ancient English leaders of the assembly have fallen off 
from the majority, and attached themselves to the party which supported 
the British Government against it. Every election from the Town- 
ships added to the English minority. On the other hand, year after year, 
in spite ef the various influences which a government can exercise, and 
of which no people in the world are more susceptible than the French 
Canadians; in spite of the additional motives of prudence and patriotism 
which deter timid or calm men from acting with a party, obviously en. 



dangering the public tranquillity by the violence of its conduct, the num- 
ber of French Canadians, on whom the government could rely, has been 
narrowed by the influence of those associations which have drawn them 
into the ranks of their kindred. The insurrection of 1837 completed the 
division. Since the resort to arms, the two races have been distinctly 
and completely arrayed against each other. No portion of the English 
population was backward in taking arms in defence of the government : 
with a single exception, no portion of the Canadian population was al- 
lowed to do so, even where it was asserted by some that their loyalty in. 
clined them thereto. The exasperation thus generated has extended 
over the whole of each race. — The most just and sensible of the English, 
those whose politics had always been most liberal, those who had always 
advocated the most moderate policy in the provincial disputes, seem from 
that moment to have taken their part against the French as resolutely, if 
not as fiercely as the rest of their countrvmen, and to have joined in the 
determination never again to submit to a French majority. A few ex- 
ceptions mark the existence, rather than militate against the truth of the 
general rule of national hostility. A few of the French, distinguished 
by moderate and enlarged views, still condemn the narrow national pre- 
judices and ruinous violence of their countrymen while they equally re- 
sist what they consider the violent and unjust pretensions of a minority, 
and endeavour to form a middle party between the two extremes. A 
large part of the Catholie Clergy, a few of the principal proprietors of 
the seignorial families, and some of those who are influenced by ancient 
connexions of party, support the government against the revolutionary 
violence. A very few persons of English origin (not more, perhaps, than 
fifty out of the whole number,) still continue to act with the party which 
they originally espoused. Those who affect to form a middle party ex. 
ereised no influence on the contending extremes ; and those who side with 
the nation from which their birth distinguishes them, are regarded by 
their countrymen with aggravated hatred, as renegades from their race ; 
while they obtain but little of the real affection, confidence, or esteem of 
those whom they have joined. 

The grounds of quarrel which are commonly alleged appear, on inves- 
tigation, to have little to do with its real cause ; and the inquirer, who 
has imagined that the public demonstration or professions of the parties 
have put him in possession of their real motives and designs, is surprised 
to find, upon nearer observation, how much he has been deceived by the 
false colours under which they have been in the habit of fighting. It is 
not indeed, surprising that each party should, in this instance, have 
practised more than the usual frauds of language, by which factions in 
every country seek to secure the sympathy of other communities. A 
quarrel based on the mere ground of national animosity appoars so re. 
volting to the notions of good sense and charity prevalent in the civili- 
zed world, that the parties who feel such a passion the most strongly,and 
indulge it the most openly, are at great pains to class themselves under 
any denominations but those which would correctly designate their ob- 
jects and feelings. The French Canadians have attempted to shroud 
their hostility to the influence of English emigration, and the introduc- 
tion of British institutions, under the guise of warfare against the go- 
vernment and its supporters, whom they represented to be a small knot 
of corrupt and insolent dependents; being a majority, they have invoked 
the principles of popular control and democracy, and appealed with no 
little effect to the sympathy of liberal politicians in every quarter of the 
world. The English finding their opponents in collision with the go. 
vernment,have raised the cry of loyalty and attachment to British connec. 
tion, and denounced the republican designs of the French, whom they 
designate, or rather used to designate, by the appellation of Radicals. — 
Thus the French have been viewed as a democratic party, contending 
for reform ; and the English, as a Conservative minority, protecting the 
menaced connection with the British Crown, and the supreme authority 
of the empire. There is truth in this notion, in so far as respects the 
means by which each party sought to carry its own views of government 



into effect. The Frenoh majority asserted the most democratic doctrines 
of the rights of a numerical mnjority. The English minority availed it- 
self of the protection of the prerogative, and allied itself with all those 
of the colonial institutions which enabled the few to resist the will of the 
many. But when we look to the objects of each party, the analogy to 
our own politics seems to be lost, if not actually reversed; the French 
appear to have used their democratic arms for conservative purposes, ra. 
t her than those of liberal and enlightened movement; and the sympa- 
thies of the friends of reform are naturally enlisted on the 6ide of sound 
amelioration which the English minority in vain attempted to introduce 
into the antiquated laws of the Province. 

Yet even on the questions which had been most recently the prominent 
matters of dispute between the two parties, it is difficult to believe that 
the hostility of the races was the effect, and not the cause, of the pertina- 
city with which the desired reforms were pressed or resisted. 

The English complained of the Assembly's refusal to establish registry 
offices, and to commute the feudal tenures ; and yet it was among the 
ablest and most influential leaders of the English that I found some of 
the opponents of both the proposed reforms. The leaders of the French 
were anxious to disclaim any hostility to these reforms themselves. Many 
of them represented the reluctance which the assembly had exhibited to 
entertain these questions, as a result of the extraordinary influence which 
Mr. Papineau exercised over that body ; his opposition was accounted for 
by some peculiar prejudices of education and professional practice, in 
which he was said to find little concurrence among his countrymen ; it 
was stated that even his influence would not have prevented these ques- 
tions from being very favorably entertained by the assembly, had it ever 
met again ; and I received assurances of a friendly disposition towards 
them, which I must say were very much at variance with the reluctance 
which the leading men of the party showed to any co-operation with me 
in the attempts which I subsequently made to carry these very objects 
into effect. At the same time while the leading men of the French party 
thus rendered themselves liable to the imputation of a timid or narrow- 
minded opposition to these improvements, the mass of the French popu- 
lation, who are immediate sufferers by the abuses of the seignorial system, 
exhibited, in every possible shape, their hostility to the state of things 
which their leaders had so obstinately maintained. There is every reason 
to believe that a great number of the peasants who fought at St. Denis 
and St, Charles, imagined that the principal result of success would be 
the overthrow of tithes and feudal burthens ; and in the declaration of 
independence which Dr. Robert Nelson issued, two of the objects of the 
insurrection were stated to be the abolition of feudal tenures, and the 
establishment of registry offices.* When 1 observe these inconsistencies 
of conduct among the opponents and supporters of these reforms; when 
I consider that their attainment was prevented by means of the censitaires, 
the very persons most interested in their success, and that they were not 
more eagerly demanded by the wealthier of the English than by the arti- 
sans and labourers of that race whose individual interests would hardly 
have derived much benefit from their success, I cannot but think 
that many, both of the supporters and of the opponents, cared less for 
the measures themselves, than for the handle which the agitation of them 



* Among the few petitions, except those of mere compliment, which I received 
from French Canadians, were three or four for the abolition and commutation of 
the feudal tenures. But the mo$t remarkable was one which was presented from 
the inhabitants of the county of Saguenay, and supported by Mr. Charles Drolet, 
late M. P. P. for that county. The petitioners, who represented themselves as 
suffering under a degree of distress of which the existence is too deplorably cer- 
tain, prayed to be allowed to settle on the wild lands at the head of the Saguenay. 
They expressed their willingness to take the lands on any conditions which the 
government might propose, but they prayed that it should not be granted on the 
feudal tenure. 



10 

gave to their national hostility ; that the Assembly resisted these changes 
chiefly because the English desired them ; and that the eagerness with 
which many of the English urged them was stimulated by finding them 
opposed by the French. 

Nor did I find the spirit which animated each party at all more coinci- 
dent with the representations current in this country, than their objects 
appeared, when tried by English, or, rather, by European ideas of reform- 
ing legislation. An utterly uneducated and singularly inert population, 
implicitly obeying leaders who ruled them by the influence of a blind 
confidence and narrow national prejudices, accorded very little with the 
resemblance which had been discovered to that high spirited democracy 
which effected the American Revolution. Still less could I discover in 
the English population those slavish tools of a narrow official clique, or 
a few purse-proud merchants, which their opponents had described them 
as being. I have found the main body of the English population, consist, 
ing of hardy farmers and humble mechanics, composing a very independ- 
ent, not very manageable, and, sometimes, a rather turbulent, democra- 
cy. Though constantly professing a somewhat extravagant loyalty and 
high prerogative doctrines, I found them very determined on maintain, 
ing, in their own persons, a great respect for popular rights, and singu- 
larly ready to enforce their wishes by the strongest means of constitu- 
tional pressure on the government. Between them and the Canadians I 
found the strongest hostility ; and that hostility was, as might be expect, 
ed, most strongly developed among the humblest and rudest of the body. 
Between them and the small knot of officials, whose influence has been 
represented as so formidable, I found no sympathy whatever ; and it must 
be said, in justice to this body of officials, who have been so much assail, 
ed as the enemies of the Canadian people, that, however little J can ex. 
cuse the injurious influence of that system of administration, which they 
were called upon to carry into execution, the members of the oldest and 
most powerful official families were, of all the English in the country, 
those in whom I generally found most sympathy with, and kindly feel, 
ing towards the French population. I could not therefore believe that 
this animosity was only that subsisting between an official oligarchy and 
a people ; and again, I was brought to a conviction that the contest, 
which had been represented as a contest of classes, was, in fact, a con. 
test of races. 

However unwilling we may be to attribute the disorders of a country 
connected with us to a cause so fatal to its tranquillity, and one which it 
seems so difficult to remove, no very long or laboured consideration of 
the relative characters and position of these races is needed for convinc- 
ing us of their invincible hostility towards each other. It is scarcely pos- 
sible to conceive descendants of any of the great European nations more 
unlike each other in character and temperament, more totally separated 
from each other by language, laws, and modes of life, or placed in circum- 
stances more calculated to produce mutual misunderstanding,jealousy and 
hatred. To conceive the incompatibility of the two races in Canada, it 
is not enough that we should picture to ourselves a community compos, 
ed of equal proportions of French and English. We must bear in mind 
what kind of French and English they are that are brought in contact, 
and in what proportions they meet. 

The institutions of France, during the period of the colonization of 
Canada, were, perhaps, more than those of any other European nation, 
calculated to repress the intelligence and freedom of the great mass of the 
people. These institutions followed the Canadian colonist across the 
Atlantic. The same central, ill-organized, unimproving and repressive 
despotism extended over him. Not merely was he allowed no voice in 
the government of his province, or the choice of his rulers, but he was 
not even permitted to associate with his neighbours fer the regulation of 
those municipal affairs, which the central authority neglected under the 
pretext of managing. He obtained his land on a tenure singularly calcu- 
lated to promote his immediate comfort, and to check his desire to better 
his condition, he was placed at once in a life of constant and unvarying 



11 

labour, of great material comfort, and feudal dependence. The ecclesi- 
astical authority to which he had been accustomed established its institu- 
tions around him, and the priest continued to exercise over him, its an- 
cient influence. No general provision was made for education ; and, as 
its necessity was not appreciated, the colonist made no attempt to repair 
the negligence of his government. It need not surprise us that, under 
such circumstances, a race of men habituated to the incessant labour of a 
rude and unskilled, agriculture, ( and habitually fond of social enjoyments, 
congregated together in rural communities, occupying portions of the 
wholly unappropriated soil, sufficient to provide each family with mate- 
rial comforts, far beyond their ancient means, or almost their concep- 
tions ; that they made little advance beyond the first progress in comfort, 
which the bounty of the soil absolutely forced upon them ; that under the 
same institutions they remained the same un instructed, inactive unpro- 
gressive people. Along the alluvial banks of the St. Lawrence, and its 
tributaries, they have cleared two or three strips of land, cultivated them 
in the worst method of small farming, and established a series of conti- 
nuous village, which give the country of the seigniories the appearance 
of a never-ending street. Besides the cities which were the seats of go. 
vernment, no towns were established ; the rude manufactures of the 
country were and still are carried on in the cottage by the family of the 
habitant ; and an insignificant proportion of the population derived their 
subsistence from the scarcely discernible commerce of the province. What, 
ever energy existed among the population was employed in the fur trade, 
and the occupations of hunting, which they and their descendants have 
carried beyond the Rocky Mountains, and still, in a great measure, mono, 
polise in the whole valley of the Mississippi. The massof the commani. 
ty exhibited in the New World the characteristics of the peasantry of Eu- 
rope. Society was dense ; and even the wants and the poverty which 
the pressure of population occasioned in the Old World, became not to be 
wholly unknown. They clung to ancient prejudices, ancient customs 
and ancient laws, not from any strong sense of their beneficial effects, but 
with the unreasoning tenacity of an uneducated and unpregressive people. 
Nor were they wanting in the virtues of a simple and industrious jife, or 
in those which common consent attributes to the nation from which they 
spring. The temptations which, in other states of society, lead tooffen. 
ces against property, and the passions which prompt to violence, were 
little known among them. They are mild and kindly, frugal, industrious 
and honest, very sociable, cheerful and hospitable, and distinguished for 
a courtesy and real politeness which pervades every class of society. The 
conquest has changed them but little. The higher classes, andtheinhabi. 
tants of the towns, have adopted some English customs and feelings ; but 
the continued negligence of the British government left the mass of the 
people without any of the institutions which would have elevated them in 
freedom and civilization. It has left them without the education and 
without the institutions of local self-government, that would have assi- 
milated their character and habits, in the easiest and best way, to those 
of the empire of which they became a part. They remain an old and sta- 
tionary society, in a new and progressive world. In all essentials they 
are still French ; but French in every respect dissimilar to those of 
France in the present day . They resemble rather the French of the pro. 
vinces under the old regime. 

I cannot pass over this subject without calling particular attention to a 
peculiarity in the social condition of this people, of which the important 
bearing on the troubles of Lower Canada has never, in my opinion, been 
properly estimated. The circumstances of a new and unsettled coun. 
try, the operations of the French laws of inheritance, and the absence of 
any means of accumulation, by commerce or manufactures, have produ- 
ced a remarkable equality of properties and conditions. A few seigno. 
rial families possess large, though not often very valuable properties ; 
the class entirely dependent on wages is very small ; the bulk of the po- 
pulation is composed of the hard-working yeomanry of the country dis- 
tricts, commonly called habitants, and their connections engaged in other 



12 

occupations. It is impossible to exaggerate the want of education! 
among the habitans, no means of instruction have ever been provided for 
them, and they are almost universally destitute of the qualifications even 
of reading and writing. It came to my knowledge that out of a great 
number of boys and girls assembled at the school-house door of St. Tho- 
mas, all but three admitted, on inquiry, that they could not read. Yet 
the children of this large parish, attend school regularly, and actually 
make use of books. They hold the catechism book in their hand, as it 
they were reading, while they only repeat its contents, which they know 
by rote. The common assertion, however, that all classes of the Cana- 
dians are equally ignorant, is perfectly erroneous ; for I know of no peo- 
ple among whom a larger provision exists for the higher kinds of ele- 
mentary education, or among whom such education is really extended to 
a larger proportion of the population. The piety and benevolence of the 
early possessors of the country founded, in the seminaries that exist in 
different parts of the province, institutions, of which the funds and acti- 
vity have long been directed to the promotion of education. Seminaries 
and colleges have been, by these bodies, established in the cities and in 
other central points. The education given in these establishments great- 
ly resembles the kind given in the English public schools, though it is 
rather more variod. It is entirely in the hands of the Catholic clergy. — 
The number of pupils in these establishments is estimated altogether at 
about a thousand ; aand they turn out every year, as far as I could ascer- 
tain, between two and three hundred young men thus educated. Almost 
all of these are members of the family of some habitant, whom the pos- 
session of greater quickness than his brothers has induced the father or 
the curate of the parish to select and send to the seminary. These 
young men possessing a degree, of information immeasurably superior to 
that of their families, are naturally averse to what they regard as de- 
scending to the humble occupations of their parents. A few become 
priests ; but as the military and naval professions are closed against the 
colonist, the greater part can only find a position suited to their notions 
of their own qualifications in the learned professions of advocate, notary, 
and surgeon. As from this cause these professions are greatly over- 
stocked, we find every village in Lower Canada filled with notaries and 
surgeons, with little practice to occupy their attention, and living among 
their own families, or at any rate among exactly the same class. Thus 
the persons of most education in every village belong to the same fami- 
lies, and the same original station in life, as the illiterate habitans whom 
I have described. They are connected with them by all the associations 
of early youth, and the ties of blood. The most perfect equality always 
marks their intercourse, and the superior in education is separated by no 
barrier of manners, or pride, or distinct interests, from the singularly ig- 
norant peasantry by which he is surrounded. He combines, therefore, 
the influences of superior knowledge and social equality, and wields a 
power over the mass, which I do not believe that the educated class of 
any other portion of the world possess. To this singular state of things 
I attribute the extraordinary influence of the Canadian demagogues. — 
The most uninstructed population anywhere trusted with political power 
is thus placed in the hands of a small body of instructed persons, in 
whom it reposes the confidence which nothing but such domestic con. 
nexion and such community of interest could generate. Over the class 
of persons by whom the peasantry are thus led the government has not 
acquired, or ever labored to acquire, influence. Its members have been 
thrown into opposition by the system of exclusion long prevalent in the 
colony, and it is by their agency that the leaders of the assembly have 
been enabled hitherto to move as one mass in whatever direction they 
thought proper, the simple and ductile population ot the country. The 
entire neglect of education by the government has thus, more than any 
other cause, contributed to render this people ungovernable, and to invest 
the agitator with the power which he wields against the laws and the 
public tranquillity. 

Among this people the progress of emigration has of late years intro 



13 

duced an English population, exhibiting the characteristics with which 
we are familiar, as those of the most enterprising of every class of our 
countrymen. The circumstances of the early colonial administration 
excluded the native Canadian from power, and vested all officers of trust 
and emolument in the hands of strangers of English origin. The highest 
posts in the law were confided to the same class of persons. The func. 
tionaries of the civil government, together with the officers of the army, 
composed a kind of privileged class occupying the first place in the com- 
munity, and excluding the higher class of the natives from society, as 
well as from the government of their own country. It was not till within 
a very few years, as was testified by persons who had seen much of the 
country, that this society of civil and military functionaries ceased to exhi- 
bit towards the higher order of Canadians an exclusiveness of demeanour 
which was more revolting to a sensitive and polite people than the mono- 
poly of power and profit ; nor was this national favouritism discontinued, 
until after repeated complaints and an angry contest, which had excited 
passions that concession could not allay. The races had become enemies 
ere a tardy justice was extorted ; and even then the government discover- 
ed a mode of distributing its patronage among the Canadians, which was 
quite as offensive to that people as their previous exclusion. 

It was not long after the conquest that another and larger class of 
English settlers began to enter the province. English capital was 
attracted to Canada by the vast quantity and valuable nature of the export, 
able produced of the country, and the great facilities for commerce, pre- 
sented by the natural means of internal intercourse. The ancient trade 
of the country, was conducted on a much larger and more profitable scale ; 
and new branches of industry were explored. The active and regular 
habits of the English capitalist drove out of all the more profitable kinds 
of industry their inert and careless competitors of the French race ; but, 
in respect of the greater part (almost the whole) of the commerce and 
manufactures of the country, the English cannot be said to have encroa- 
ched on the French ; for, in fact, they created employments and profits 
which had not previously existed. A few of the ancient race smarted 
under the loss occasioned by the success of English competition: but all felt 
yet more acutely the gradual increase of a class of strangers in whose hands 
the wealth of the country appeared to centre, and whose expenditure and 
influence eclipsed those of the class which had previously occupied the 
first position in the country. ]\or was the intrusion of the English limited 
to commercial enterprizes. By degrees, large portions of land were oc- 
cupied by them ; nor did they confine themselves to the unsettled and 
distant country of the townships. The wealthy capitalists invested his 
money in the purchase of seignorial properties ; and it is estimated that 
at the present moment full half of the more valuable seignories are actually 
owned by English proprietors. The seignorial tenure is one so little 
adapted to our notions of proprietary rights, that the new seigneur, with^- 
out any cr nsciousness or intention of injustice, in many instances exer- 
cised his rights in a manner which would appear perfectly fair in this 
country, but which the Canadian settler reasonably regarded as oppressive. 
The English purchaser found an equally unexpected and just cause of com- 
plaint in that uncertainty of the laws, which rendered his possession of 
property precarious, and in those incidents of the tenure which rendered 
its alienation or improvement difficult. But an irritation greater than 
that occasioned by the transfer of the large properties was caused by the 
competition of the English with the French farmer. The English farmer 
carried with him the experience and habits of the most improved agri* 
culture in the world. He settled himself in the townships bordering on 
the seignories, and brought a fresh soil and improved cultivation to com- 
pete with the worn-out and slovenly farm of the habitant. He often took 
the very farm which the Canadian settler had abandoned, and by superior 
management made that a source of profit which had only impoverished 
his predecessor. The ascendancy which an unjust favouritism had con- 
tributed to give to the English race in the government and the legal 
profession, their own superior energy, skill, and capital secured to them 



14 

in every branch of industry. They have developed the resources of the 
country — tbey have constructed or improved its means of communication 
— they have created its internal and foreign commerce- The entire 
wholesale, and a large portion of the retail trade of the province, with 
the most profitable and flourishing farms, are now in the hands of this 
numerical minority of the population. 

In Lower Canada the mere working class which depends on wages, 
though proportionally large in comparison with that to be found in any 
other portion of the American continent, is, according to our ideas, very 
small. Competition between persons of different origin in this class has 
not exhibited itself till very recently, and is, even now, almost confined, to 
the cities. The large mass of the labouring population are French in the 
employ of English capitalists. The more skilled class of artisans^are 
generally English ; but the general run of the more laborious employ- 
ments, the French Canadians fully hold their ground, against English 
rivalry. The emigration which took place a few years ago, brought in a 
class which entered into more direct competition with the French in some 
kinds of employment in the towns ; but the individuals effected by this 
competition were not very many. I do not believe that the animosity 
which exists between the working classes of the two origins is the neces- 
sary result of a collision of interests, or of a jealousy of the superior sue 
cess of English labour. But national prejudices naturally exercise the 
greatest influence over the most uneducated ; the difference of language 
is less easily overcome ; the difference of manners and customs less easily 
appreciated. The labourers, whom the emigration introduced, contained 
a number of very ignorant, turbulent, and demoralised persons, whose 
conduct and manners alike revolted the well ordered and courteousjna- 
tives of the same class. The working men naturally ranged themselves 
on the side of the educated and wealth of their own countrymen. When 
once engaged in the conflict, their passions were less restrained by educa- 
tion and prudence; and the national hostility now rages most fiercely be- 
tween those whose interests in reality bring them the least in collision. 

The two races thus distinct have been brought into the same commu- 
nity, under circumstances which rendered their contact inevitably pro- 
ductive of collision. The difference of language from the first kept them 
asunder. It is not anywhere a virtue of the English race to look with 
complacency on any manners, customs or laws which appear strange to 
them ; accustomed to form a high estimate of their own superiority, they 
take no pains to conceal from others their contempt and intolerance of 
their usages. They found the French Canadians filled with an equal 
amount of national pride ; a sensitive but inactive pride, which disposes 
that people not to resent insult, but rather to keep aloof from those who 
would keep them under. The French could not but feel the superiority 
of English enterprise ; they could not shut their eyes to their success in 
every undertaking in which they came into contact, and to the constant 
superiority which they were acquiring. They looked upon their rivals 
with alarm, with jealousy, and finally with hatred. The English repaid 
them with scorn, which soon also assumed the same form of hatred. 
The French complained of the arrogance and injustice of the English ; 
the English accused the French of the vices of a weak and conquered 
people, and charged them with meanness and perfidy. The entire mis- 
trust which the two races have thus learned to conceive of each other's 
intentions induces them to put the worst construction on the most inno- 
cent conduct; to judge every word, every act, and every intention un- 
fairly ; to attribute the most odious designs, and reject everyoverture of 
kindness or fairness, as covering secret designs of treachery and ma- 
lignity. 

Religion formed no bond of intercourse and union. It is, indeed, an 
admirable feature of Canadian society, that it is entirely devoid of any 
religious dissensions. Sectarian intolerance is not merely not avowed, 
but it hardly seems to influence men's feelings. But though the pru- 
dence and liberality of both parties has prevented this fruitful source of 
animosity from enbittering their quarrels, the difference of religion has 



i5 

in fact tended to keep them asunder. Their priests have been distinct ; 
they have not met even in the same church. 

No common education has served to remove and soften the differences 
of origin and language. The associations of youth, the sports of child- 
hood, and the studies by which the character of manhood is modified, are 
distinct and totally different. In Montreal and Quebec there are English 
schools and French schools ; the children in these are accustomed to 
fight nation against nation, and the quarrels that arise among boys in the 
streets usually exhibit a division into English on one side, and French on 
the other. 

As they are taught apart, so are their studies different. The literature 
with which each is the most conversant, is that of the peculiar language 
of each J and all the ideas which men derive from books, come to each of 
them from perfectly different sources The difference of language in 
this respect produces effects quite apart from those which it has on the 
mere intercourse of the two races. Those who have reflected on the 
powerful influence of language and thought, will perceive in how differ- 
ent a manner people who speak in different languages are apt to think ; 
and those who are familiar with the literature of France, know that the 
same opinion will be expressed by an English and French writer of the 
present day, not merely in different words, but in a style so different as 
to mark utterly different habits of thought. This difference is very strik- 
ing in Lower Canada ; it exists not merely in the books of most influence 
and repute, which are of course those of the great writers of France and 
England, and by which the minds of the respective races are formed, but 
it is observable in the writings which now issue from the colonial press. 
The articles in the newspapers of each race, are written in a style as 
widely different as those of France and England at present ; and the ar- 
guments which convince the one, are calculated to appear utterly unin. 
telligible to the other. 

The difference of language produces misconceptions yet more fatal 
even than those which it occasions with respect to opinions ; it aggra- 
vates the national animosities, by representing all the events of the day 
in utterly different lights. This political misrepresentation of facts is 
one of the incidents of a free press in every free country ; but in nations 
in which all speak the same language, those who receive a misrepresen- 
tation from one side, have generally some means of learning the truth 
from the other. In Lower Canada, however, where the French and En- 
glish papers represent adverse opinions, and where no large portion of the 
community can read both languages with ease, those who receive the 
misrepresentation are rarely able to avail themselves of the means of cor- 
rection. It is difficult to conceive the perversity with which misrepre- 
sentations are habitually made, and the gross delusions which find cur- 
rency among the people ; they thus live in a world of misconceptions, in 
which each party is set against the other not only by diversity of feelings 
and opinions, but by an actual belief in an utterly different set of facts. 

The differences thus early occasioned by education and language, are 
in no wise softened by the intercourse of after-life ; their business and 
occupations do not bring the two races into friendly contact and co-op- 
peration, but only present them to each other in occasional rivalry. A 
laudable emulation has of late induced the French to enter on the field 
previously occupied by the English, and to attempt to compete with them 
in commerce, but it is much to be lamented that this did not commence 
until the national animosities had arrived almost at the highest pitch ; 
and that the competition has been carried on in such a manner as to wi- 
den the pre-existing differences. The establishment of the " Banque du 
Peuple" by French capitalists, is an event which may be regarded as a 
satisfactory indication of an awakening commercial energy among the 
French, and it is therefore very much to be regretted that the success of 
the new enterprise was uniformly promoted by direct and illiberal appeals to 
the national feelings of the race. Some of the French have lately es- 
tablished steamboats to compete with the monopoly which a combina- 



16 

tion of English capitalists had for some time enjoyed on the St. Law- 
rence, and small and somewhat uncomfortable as they were, they were 
regarded with favor on account of their superiority in the essential qua- 
lities of certainty and celerity. But this was not considered sufficient to 
insure their success ; an appeal was constantly made to the national 
feelings of the French for an exclusive preference of the «« French'* 
line, and I have known a French newspaper announce with satisfaction 
the fact, that on the previous day the French steamers to Quebec and 
Laprairie had arrived at Montreal with a great many passengers, and the 
English with very few. The English, on the other hand, appealed to 
exactly the same kind of feelings, and used to apply to the French steam- 
boats the epithets of " Radical," " Rebel," and " Disloyal." The intro- 
duction of this kind of national preference into this department of busi- 
ness, produced a particularly mischievous effect, inasmuch as it separat- 
ed the two races on some of the few occasions on which they had been 
previously thrown into each other's society. They rarely meet at the 
inns in the cities ; the principal hotels are almost exclusively filled with 
English and with foreign travellers ; and the French are, for the most 
part, received at each other's houses, or in boarding houses, in which 
they meet with few English. 

Nor do their amusements bring them more in contact. Social inter- 
course never existed between the two races in any but the higher classes, 
and it is now almost destroyed. I heard of but one house in Quebec in 
which both races met on pretty equal and amicable terms, and this was 
mentioned as a singular instance of good sense on the part of the gentle- 
man to whom it belongs. At the commencement of Lord Aylmer's ad- 
ministration, an entertainment was given to His Lordship by Mr. Papi- 
neau, the Speaker of the House of Assembly. It was generally under- 
stood to be intended as a mark of confidence and good-will towards the 
Governor, and of a conciliatory disposition. It was given on a very large 
scale, a very great number of persons were present; and of that number 
I was informed by a gentleman who was present, that he and one other 
were the only English, except the Governor and his suite. Indeed, the 
difference of manners in the two races renders a general social intercourse 
almost impossible. 

A singular instance of national incompatibility was brought before my 
notice, in an attempt which I made to promote an undertaking, in which 
the French were said to take a great deal of interest. I accepted the of- 
fice of president of the Agricultural Association of the District of Que-, 
bee, and attended the show previous to the distribution of the prizes. I 
then found that the French farmers would not compete even on this neu- 
tral ground with the English. Distinct prizes were given, in almost 
every department, to the two races ; and the national ploughing matches 
were carried on in separate and distant fields. 

While such is their social intercourse, it is not to be expected that the 
animosities of the two races can frequently be softened by the formation 
of domestic connexions. During the first period of the possession of the 
colony by the English, intermarriages of the two races were by no means 
uncommon. But they are now very rare, and where such unions occur 
they are generally formed with members of the French families, which 
I have described as politically, and almost nationally, separated from the 
bulk of their own race. 

I could mention various slight features in the state of society which 
show the all-pervading and marked division of the races, but nothing, 
(though it will sound paradoxical) really proves their entire separation 
so much as the rarity, nay, almost total absence, of personal encounters 
between the two races. Disputes of this kind are almost confined to the 
ruder order of the people, and seldom proceed to acts of violence. As 
respects the other classes, social intercourse between the two races is so 
limited, that the more prominent or excitable antagonists never meet in 
the same room. It came to my knowledge that a gentleman who was 
for some years a most active and determined leader amongst the English 
population, had never once been under a private roof with French Ca~ 



17 

h&dians of his own rank in life, until he met some at table on the invita- 
tion of persons attached to my mission, who were in the habit of associ. 
uting indifferently with French and English. There are therefore no po. 
litical personal controversies. The ordinary occasions of collision never 
occur, and men must quarrel so publicly or so deliberately, that prudence 
restrains them from commencing, individually, what would probably end 
in a general and bloody conflict of numbers. Their mutual fears restrain 
personal disputes and riots, even among the lower orders ; the French 
know and dread the superior physical strength ot the English in the 
cities; and the English in these places refrain from exhibiting their pow. 
er, from fear of the revenge that might be taken on their countrymen, 
who are scattered over the rural parishes. 

This feeling of mutual forbearance extends so far as to produce an ap- 
parent calm with respect to public matters, which is calculated to perplex 
a stranger who has heard much of the animosities of the province. Mo 
trace of them appears in public meetings ; and these take place in every 
direction, in the most excited periods, and go off without disturbance, and 
almost without dissent. The fact is, that both parlies have come to a 
tacit understanding, not in any way to interfere with each other on these 
occasions ; each party knowing that it would always be in the power of 
the other to prevent its meetings. The British party consequently have 
their meetings ; the French theirs ; and neither disturb the other. The 
complimentary addresses which I received on various occasions, marked 
the same entire separation, even in a matter in which it might be suppo- 
sed that party feeling would not be felt, or would from mere prudence 
and propriety be concealed. I bad from the same places French and 
English addresses, and I never found the two races uniting, except in a 
few cases, where I met with the names of two or three isolated members 
of one origin, who happened to dwell in a community almost entirely 
composed of the other. The two parties combine for no public object ; 
they cannot harmonise even in associations of charity. The only public 
occasion on which they ever meet is in the jury-box ; and they meet there 
only to the utter obstruction of justice. 

The hostility which thus pervades society was sometime growing be- 
fore it became of prominent importance in the politics of the Province. — 
It was inevitable that such social feelings must end in a deadly political 
s^ife. The French regarded with jealousy the influence in politics of a 
daily increasing body of the strangers, whom they so much disliked and 
dreaded ; the wealthy English were offended at finding that their proper- 
ty gave them no influence over their French dependents, who were 
acting under the guidance of leaders of their own race ; and the farmers 
and traders of the same race were not long before they began to bear 
with impatience their utter political nullity in the midst of the majority 
of a population, whose ignorance they contemned, and whose political 
views and conduct seemed utterly at variance with their own notions of 
the principles and practice of self-government. The superior political 
and practical intelligence of the English cannot be for a moment dispu. 
ted. The great mass of the Canadian population, who cannot read or 
write, and have found in a few of the institutions of their country, even 
the elements of political education, were obviously inferior to the Eng. # 
lish settlers, of whom a large proportion had received a considerable 
amount of education, and had been trained in their own country to take 
a part in public busines of one kind or another. With respect to the 
more educated classes, the superiority is not so general or apparent ; in. 
deed, from all the information that I could collect, I incline to think that 
the greater amount of refinement, of speculative thought, and of the 
knowledge that books can give, is, with some brilliant exceptions, to be 
found among the French. But I have no hesitation in stating, even 
more decidedly, that the circumstances in which the English have been 
placed in Lower Canada, acting on their original political education, 
have endowed the leaders of that population with much of that practical 
sagacity, tact, and energy in politics in which I must say that the bad 
institutions of the colony have, in my opinion, rendered the leaders of 

c 



18 

the French deplorably deficient. That a race which felt itself thus supe- 
rior in political activity and intelligence should submit with patience to 
the rule of a majority which it could not respect, was impossible. At 
what time and from what particular cause the hostility between such a 
majority and such a minority, which was sure sooner or later to break 
out, actually became of paramount importance, it is difficult to say. The 
hostility between the assembly and the the British government had long 
given a tendency to attacks, on the part of the popular leaders on the na- 
tion to which that government belonged. It is said that the appeals to 
the national pride and animosities of the French, became more direct and 
general on the occasion of the abortive attempt to re-unite Upper and 
Lower Canada in 1822, which the leaders of the assembly viewed or 
represented as a blow aimed at the institutions of their province. The 
anger of the English was excited by the denunciations of themselves, 
which, subsequently to this period, they were in the habit of hearing. — 
They had possibly some little sympathy with the members of the provin- 
cial government of their own race ; and their feelings were, probably,yet 
more strongly excited in favour of the connexion of the colony with 
Great Britain, which the proceedings of the Assembly appeared to en- 
danger. But the abuses existing under the provincial government, gave 
such inducements to remain in opposition to it, that the representatives 
of each race continued for a long time to act together against it. And 
as the bulk of the English population in the Townships and on the Otta- 
wa were brought into very little personal contact withthe French, I am in • 
clined to think that it might have been some time longer, ere the dis- 
putes of origin would have assumed an importance paramount to all 
others, had not the Assembly come into collision with the whole English 
population by its policy with respect to internal improvements, and to 
the old and defective laws, which operated as a bar to the alienation of 
land, and to the formation of associations for commercial purposes. 

TheEnglish population, an immigrant and enterprising population, look- 
ed on the American provinces as a vast field for settlement and specula- 
tion, and in the common spirit of the Anglo. Saxon inhabitants of that 
continent, regarded it as the chief business of the government to promote, 
by all possible use of its legislative and administrative powers, the in- 
crease of population and the accumulation of property ; they found the 
laws of real property exceedingly adverse to the easy alienation, of land, 
which is in a new country, absolutely essential to its settlement and im- 
provement ; they found the greatest deficiency in the internal communi- 
cations of the country, and the utter want of local self-government ren- 
der it necessary for them to apply to the Assembly for every road or 
bridge, or other public work that was needed ; they wished to form 
themselves in companies for the establishment of banks, and the con- 
struction of railroads and canals, and to obtain the powers necessary for 
the completion of such works, with funds of their own. And as the first 
requisite for the improvement of the country, they desired that a large 
proportion of the revenue should be applied to the completion of that 
great series of public works by which it was proposed to render the St. 
Lawrence and the Ottawa navigable throughout their whole extent. 
• Without going so far as to accuse the Assembly of a deliberate design 
to check the settlement and improvement of Lower Canada, it cannot be 
denied that they looked with considerable jealousy and dislike on the in- 
crease and prosperity of what they regarded as a foreign and hostile race ; 
they looked on the province as the patrimony of their own race ; they 
viewed it not as a country to be settled, but as one already settled ; and 
instead of legislating in the American spirit, and first providing for the 
future population of the province, their primary care was, in the spirit of 
legislation which prevails in the Old World, to guard the interests and 
feelings of the present race of inhabitants, to whom they considered the 
new comers as subordinate ; they refused to increase the burthens of the 
country by imposing taxes to meet the expenditure required for improve- 
ment, and they also refused to direct to that object any of the funds pre- 
viously devoted to the other purposes. The improvement of the harbour of 



19 

Montreal was suspended, from a political antipathy to a leading English 
merchant who had been the most active of the commissioners, and by 
whom it had been conducted with the most admirable success. It is but 
just to say that some of the works which the Assembly authorisnd and en- 
couraged were undertaken on a scale of due moderation, and satisfactory 
ly perfected and brought into operation. Others, especially the great 
communications which I have mentioned above, the Assembly showed a 
great reluctance to promote or even to permit. It is true that there was 
considerable foundation for their objections to the plan on which the Le* 
gislature of Upper Canada had commenced some of these works, and to 
the mode in which it had carried them on ; but the English complained 
that instead of profiting by the experience which they might have derived 
from this source, the Assembly seemed only to make its objections a pre- 
text for doing nothing. The applications for banks, railroads and 
canals were laid on one side until some general measures could be adopt- 
ed with regard to such undertakings ; but the general measures thus pro 
mised were never passed, and the particular enterprises were prevented. 
The adoption of, a registry was refused on the alleged ground of itsincon- 
sistency with the French institutions of the province, and no measuse to 
attain this desirable end, in a less obnoxious mode, was prepared by the 
leaders of the Assembly. The feudal tenure was supported, as a mild 
and just provision for the settlement of a new country ; a kind of assur- 
ance given by a committee of the Assembly, that some steps should be 
taken to remove the most injurious incidents of the seignorial tenure, 
produced no practical results ; and the enterprises of the English were still 
thwarted by the obnoxious laws of the country. In all these decisions of 
the Assembly, in its discussions and in the apparent motives of its con. 
duct, the English population perceived traces of a desire to repress the 
influx and the success of their race. A measure for imposing a tax on 
emigrants, though recommended by the Home Government, and war. 
ranted by the policy of those neighbouring states which give the greatest 
encouragement to immigration, was argued on such grounds in the As- 
sembly that it was not unj ustly regarded as indicative of an intention to 
exclude any further accession to the English population ; and the indus. 
try of the English was thus retarded by this conduct of the Assembly. 
Some districts, particularly that of the eastern townships, where the 
French race has no footing, were seriously injured by the refusal of ne~ 
jcessary improvements ; and the English inhabitants generally regarded 
the policy of the Assembly as a plan for preventing any further -emigra. 
tion to the province, of stopping the growth of English wealth, and of 
rendering precarious the English property already invested or acquired 
in Lower Canada. 

The Assembly of which they thus complained, and of which they en. 
tertained apprehensions so serious, was at the same time in collision with 
the executive government. The party in power, and which, by means 
of the legislative council, kept the Assembly in check, gladly availed it- 
self of the discontents of this powerful and energetic minority, offered it 
its protection, and undertook the furtherance of its views ; and thus was 
cemented the singular alliance between the English population and the 
colonial officials, who combined from perfectly different motives, and 
with perfectly different objects, against a common enemy. The English 
desired reform and liberal measures from the Assembly, which refused 
them, while it was urging other reforms and demanding other liberal 
measures from the executive government. The Assembly complained of 
the oppressive use of the power of the executive ; the English com- 
plained that they, a minority, suffered under the oppressive use to which 
power was turned by the French majority. Thus a bold and intelligent 
democracy was impelled, by its impatience for liberal measures, joined 
to its national antipathies, to make common cause with a government 
which was at issue with the majority on the question of popular rights. 
The actual conflict commenced by a collision between the executive and 
the French majority ; and, as the English population rallied round the 
government, supported its pretensions, and designated themselves by the 



2d 

appellation of " loyal," the causes ofthe quarrel were naturally supposed 
to be much more simple than they really were; and the extent ofthe 
division which existed among the inhabitants of Lower Canada, the 
number and nature of the combatants arrayed on each side, and the irre- 
mediable nature ofthe dispute, Were concealed from the public view. 

The treasonable attempt ofthe French party to carry its political ob- 
jects into effect by an appeal to arms, brought these hostile races into 
general and armed collision. I will not dwell on the melancholy scenes 
exhibited in the progress of the contest, or the fierce passions which held 
an unchecked sway during the insurrection, or immediately after its 
suppression. It is not difficult to conceive how greatly the evils, which 1 
have described as previously existing, have been aggravated by the 
war; how terror and revenge nourished, in each portion of the populai 
tion, a bitter and irreconcileable hatred to each other, and to the institu- 
tions of the country. The French population, who had for some time 
exercised a great and increasing power through the medium of the 
House of Assembly, found their hopes unexpectedly prostrated in the 
dust. The physical force which they had vaunted was cijjled into action, 
and proved to be utterly inefficient. The hope of recovering their previous 
ascendancy under a constitution similar to that suspended al- 
most ceased to exist. Removed from all actual share in the government 
of the country they brood in silence over the memory of their fallen 
countrymen, of their burnt' villages, of their ruined property, of their 
extinguished ascendance, and of their humbled nationality. To the go- 
vernment and the English they ascribe these wrongs, and nourish against 
both an indiscriminating and eternal animosity. Nor have the English 
inhabitants forgotten in their triumph the terror with which they saddenly 
saw themselves surrounded by an insurgent majority, and the incidents 
which alone appeared to save them from the unchecked domination of 
their antagonists. They find themselves still a minority in the 
midst of a hostile and organized people ; apprehensions of secret 
conspiracies and sanguinary designs haunt them unceasingly, and their 
only hope of safety is supposed to rest on systematically terrifying and 
disabling the French, and in preventing a majority of that race from ever 
again being predominant in any portion of the Legislature of that 
province, I describe in strong terms the feelings which appear to me to 
animate each portion of the population ; and the picture which I draw 
represents a state of things so little familiar to the personal experience of 
ofthe people of this country, that many will probably regard it as the 
work of mere imagination ; but I feel confident that the accuracy and 
moderation of my description will be acknowledged by all who have 
seen the state of society in Lower Canada during the last year. Nor do 
I exaggerate the inevitable constancy any more than the intensity of 
this animosity. Never again will the present generation of French 
Canadians yield a loyal submission to a British government; never again 
will the English population tolerate the authority of a House of Assem- 
bly in which the French shall possess or even approximate to a ma- 
jority. 

Nor is it simply the working of representative government which is 
placed out of question by the present disposition ofthe two races ; every 
institution which requires for its efficiency a confidence in the mas3 of 
the people, or co-operation between its classes, is practically in abeyance 
in Lower Canada. The militia, on which the main defence ofthe province 
against external enemies, and the discharge of many ofthe functions of 
internal police have hitherto depended, is completely disorganized. A 
muster of that force would, in some districts, be the occasion for quarrels 
between the races, and in the greater part of the country 
the attempting to arm or employ it would be merely arming the enemies 
ofthe government. The course of justice is entirely obstructed by the 
same cause ; a just decision in any political case is not to he relied upon ; 
even the judicial bench is, in the opinion of both races, divided into two 
hostile sections of French and English, from neither of whom is justice 
expected by the mass of the hostile party. The partiality of grand and 



21 

jpetty juries is a matter of certainty ; each race relies on the vote of its 
countrymen to save it harmless from the law, and the mode of challeng- 
ing allows of such an exclusion of the hostile party, that the French of- 
fender may make sure of, and the English hope for a favorable jury, and 
a consequent acquittal. This state of things and the consequent impunity 
of political offences, are distinctly admitted by both sides. The trial of 
the murderers of Chartrand has placed this disposition of the French 
jurors in a most glaring light; the notes of the Chief Justice in this case 
were transmitted by me to the Secretary of State ; and a perusal of them 
will satisfy every candid and well-ordered mind that a base and cruel as- 
sassination, committed without a single circumstance of provocation or 
palliation, was brought home by evidence which no man ever pretended 
to doubt, against the prisoner, whom the jury nevertheless acquitted. — ■ 
The duty ot giving this dishonest verdict had been most assiduously and 
shamefully inculcated by the French press before the trial came on ; the 
jurors are said to have boen kept for some time previous in the hands 
of zealous partisans, whose business it was not only to influence their in- 
clination, but to stimulate their courage ; the array of the leaders of the 
party who were present at the trial was supposed lo be collected for the 
same purpose ; and it is notorious that the acquittal was celebrated at 
public entertainments, to which the jurors were invited in order that they 
might be thanked for their verdict. 

But the influence ot this animosity does not obstruct the course of jus- 
tice in political causes alone. An example of obstruction of ordinary 
criminal Justice lately occurred at Quebec. A person had been, during 
a previous term, indicted and tried for some offence seriously affecting 
his moral character. The charge had been supported by a witness whom 
the jury considered perjured, and the accused had been acquitted. Hav- 
ing reason to believe that the witness had been instigated by a neighbour, 
the acquitted person indicted this neighbour for subornation of perjury, and 
brought the witness, who had formerly appeared against himself, to prove 
the falsehood of his previous evidence, and the fact of his subornation. The 
proof of subornation appears to have rested, in some particulars, too 
much on the unsupported evidence of this witness ; the jury differed in 
opinion, one portion of them believing the guilt of the accused to be, on 
the whole, satisfactorily established, the other refusing to believe that 
part of the case which depended solely on the evidence of a man who 
came into court to swear to the fact of his own previous perjury. Thi3 
was a difference of opinion which might naturally divide a jury ; but as 
all the parties were French, and as there is nothing in the circumstances 
which marks this as a case in which feelings of politics or origin could 
be supposed to operate, it will, I imagine, appear singular that the jury, 
being composed nearly equally of French and English, all the French were 
on one side, all the English on the other. After long discussion the jury 
came into court, and declared their inability to agree ; and the foreman 
on being told by the judge that they must agree, answered that they were 
an equal number of French and English, and consequently never could 
agree. In the end they did not, and, after being locked up for twelve 
hours, they were discharged without giving a verdict ; so that even in a 
case in which no question of party or of race is concerned, the animosity 
of the races, nevertheless, appears to present an insurmountable barrier to 
the impartial administration of justice. 

In such a state of feelings the course of civil government is hopelessly 
suspended. No confidence can be felt in the stability of any existing in- 
stitution, or the security of person or property. It cannot occasion sur- 
prise that this state of things should have destroyed the tranquillity a.nd 
happiness of families ; that it should have depreciated the value of pro. 
perty, and that it should have arrested the improvement and settlement of 
the country. The alarming decline of the value of landed property w&s 
attested to me by some of the principal proprietors of the Province. The 
continual and progressive decrease of the revenue, though in some degree 
attributable to other causes, indicates a diminution of the Wealth of the 
country. The staple export trade of the province, the timber trade* 



22 

has not suffered ; but instead of exporting grain, the province is now obli* 
ged to import for its own consumption. The influx of emigrants, once 
so considerable, has very greatly diminished. In 1832 the number of 
emigrants w ho landed at the port of Quebec amounted to 53,000 ; in 1837 
it had fallen to a few more than 22,000 ; and in 1838 it did not amount 
to 5,000. Insecurity begins to be so strongly felt by the loyal inhabitants 
of the seignories, that many of them are compelled, by fear or necessity, 
to quit their occupations, and seek refuge in the cities. If the present 
state of things continue, the most enterprising and wealthy capitalists of 
the province will thus in a short time be driven from the seats of their 
present industry. 

Nor does there appear to be the slightest chance of putting an end to 
this animosity during the present generation. Passions inflamed during 
so long a period cannot speedily be calmed. The state of education 
which I have previously described as placing the peasantry entirely at the 
mercy of agitators, the total absence of any class of persons, or any or- 
ganization of authority that could counteract this mischievous influence, 
and the serious decline in the district of Montreal of the influence of the 
clergy, concur in rendering it absolutely impossible for the Government 
to produce any better state of feeling among the French population. It 
is even impossible to impress on a people so circumstanced the salutary 
dread of the power of Great Britain, which the presence of a large mili- 
tary force in the province might be expected to produce. 1 have been in. 
formed by witnesses so numerous and so trust worthy that I cannot doubt 
the correctness of their statements that the peasantry were generally ig- 
norant of the large amount of force which was sent into their country 
last year. The newspapers that circulate among them had informed 
them that Great Britian had no troops to send out ; that in order to pro- 
duce an impression on the minds of the country people, the same regi- 
ments were marched backwards and forward in different directions, and 
represented as additional arrivals from home . This explanation was pro- 
mulgated among the people by the agitators of each village ; and I have 
no doubt that the mass of the habitants really believed that the govern- 
ment was endeavouring to impose on them by this species of fraud. It 
is a population with whom authority has no means of contact or expla- 
nation. It is difficult even to ascertain what amount of influence the 
ancient leaders of the French party continue to possess. The name of 
Mr. Papineau is still cherished by the people ; and the idea is current that 
at the appointed time, he will return at the head of an immense army, and 
re-establish *• La Nation Canadienne." But there is great reason to 
doubt whether his name be not used as a mere watchword : whether the 
people are not in fact running entirely counter to his councils and poli- 
cy ; and whether they are not really under the guidance of separate pet- 
ty agitators, who have no plan but that of a senseless and reckless deter- 
mination to show in every way their hostility to the British Government 
and English race. Their ultimate designs and hopes are equally unin- 
telligible. Some vague expectation of absolute independence still seems 
to delude them. The national vanity, which is a remarkable ingredient in 
their character, induces many to flatter themselves with the idea of a Ca- 
nadian republic } the sounder information of others has led them to per- 
ceive that a separation from Great Britain must be followed by a junc- 
tion with the great confederation on their southern frontier. But they 
seem apparently reckless of the consequences, provided they can wreak 
their vengeance on the English. There is no people against which early 
associations and every conceivable difference of manners and opinions, 
have implanted in the Canadian mind a more ancient and rooted nation- 
al antipathy than that which they feel against the people of the United 
States. Their more discerning leaders feel that their chances of preserv- 
ing their nationality would bo greatly diminished by an incorporation with 
the United States ; and recent symptoms of anti-Catholic feeling in New 
England, well known to the Canadian population, have generated a very 
general belief that their religion, which even they do not accuse the Bri- 
tish party of availing, would find little favour or respect from their neigh. 



23 

bours. Yet none even of these considerations weigh against their present 
all-absorbing hatred to the English ; and I am persuaded that they would 
purchase vengeance and a momentary triumph, by the aid of any ene- 
mies, or submission of any yoke. This provisional but complete cessa- 
tions of their ancient antipathy to the Americans is now admittedeven by 
those who most strongly denied it during the last spring.and who then as- 
serted that an American war would as completely unite the whole popu- 
lation against the common enemy as it did in 1813. My subsequent ex- 
perience leaves no doubt in my mind that the views which were contain- 
ed in my despatch of the 9th of August are perfectly correct ; and that 
an invading American army might rely on the co-operation of almost the 
entire French population of Lower Canada. 

In the Despatch above referred to I also described the state of feeling 
among the English population, nor can I encourage a hope that that portion 
of the community is at all more inclined to any settlement of the present 
quarrel that would leave any share of power to the hostile race. Circum- 
stances having thrown the English into the ranks of the government, and 
the folly of their opponents having placed them, on the other hand, in a 
state of permanent collision with it, the former possess the advantage of 
having the force of Government and the authority of the laws on their 
side in the present stage of the contest. Their exertions during the recent 
troubles have contributed to maintain the supremacy of the law and the 
continuance of the connection with Great Britain ; but it would in my 
opinion be dangerous to rely on the countenance of such a state of feelingas 
now prevails among them, in the event of a different policy being adopted 
by the Imperial Government. Indeed the prevalent sentiment among 
them is one of anything but satisfaction with the course which has been 
long pursued with reference to Lower Canada by the British Legislature 
andExecutive.The calmer view which distant spectators are enabled to take 
of the conduct of the two parties, and the disposition which is evinced 
to make a fair adjustment of the contending claims, appear iniquitous and 
injurious in the eyes of men who think that they alone have any claim to 
the favour of that government by which they alone have stood fast. They 
complain loudly and bitterly of the whole course pursued by the Imperial 
Government with respect to the quarrel of the two races, as having been 
founded on an utter ignorance or disregard of the real question at issue, as 
having fostered the mischievious pretensions of French nationality, and 
as having by the vacillation and inconsistency which marked it, discouraged 
loyalty and fomented rebellion. Every measure of clemency or even 
justice towards their opponents they regard with jealousy, as indicating a 
disposition towards that conciliatory policy which is the subject of their 
angry recollection ; for they feel that beirg a minority, any return to the 
due course of constitutional government would again subject them to a 
French majority ; and to this I am persuaded they would never peaceably 
submit. They do not hesitate to say that they will not tolerate much 
longer their being made the sport of parties at home, and that if the mo. 
ther country forget what is due to the loyal and enterprising men of her 
own race, they must protect themselves. In the significant language of one 
of their own ablest advocates, they assert that •« Lower Canada must be 
English, at the expense, if necessary, of not being British." 

I have in despatches of a later date than that to which I have had oc- 
casion so frequently to refer, called the attention of the home government 
to the growth of this alarming state of feeling among the English po- 
pulation, The course of the late troubles, and the assistance which the 
French insurgents derived from some citizens of the United States, have 
caused a most intense exasperation among the Canadian loyalists against 
the American government and people. Their papers have teemed 
with the most unmeasured denunciations of the good faith of the au- 
thorities, of the character, and morality of the people, and of the politi- 
cal institutions of the United States. Yet under this surface of hostili- 
ty, it is easy to detect a strong under-current of an exactly contrary feel- 
ing. As the general opinion of the American people became more ap- 
parent during the course of the last year, the English of Lower Canada 



24 

Were surprised to find how strong, in spite of the firat hurst of sympa- 
thy, with a people supposed to be struggling for independence, was the 
real sympathy of their republican neighbours with the great objects of 
the minority. Without abandoning their attachment to their mother 
country, they have begun, a* men in a state of uncertainty are apt to do, 
to calculate the probable consequences of a separation, if it should un- 
fortunately occur, and be followed by an incorporation with the United 
States. In spite of the shock which it would occasion their feelings, they 
undoubtedly think that they should find some compensation in the promo- 
tion of their interests ; they believe that the influx of American emigration 
would speedily place the English in a majority ; they talk frequently and 
loudly of what has occurred in Louisiana, where, by means which they 
utterly misrepresent, the end nevertheless of securing an English pre- 
dominance over a French population, has undoubtedly been attained ; 
they assert very confidently that the Americans would make a very 
speedy and decisive settlement of the pretensions of the French ; and they 
believe that, after the first shock of an entirely new political state had 
been got over, they and their posterity would share in that amazing 
progress, and that great material prosperity which every day's experi- 
ence shows them is the lot of the people of the United States. I do not 
believe that such a feeling has yet sapped their strong allegiance to the 
British empire ; but their allegiance is founded on their deep-rooted at- 
tachment to British as distinguished from French institutions. And if 
they find that that authority which they have maintained against its re- 
cent assailants is to be exerted in such a manner as to subject them again 
to what they call a French dominion, I feel perfectly confident that they 
would attempt to avert the result by courting, on any terms, an union 
with an Anglo-Saxon people. 

Such is the lamentable and hazardous state of things produced by the 
conflict of races which has so long divided the province of Lower Cana- 
da, and which has assumed the formidable and irreconcilable character 
which I have depicted. In describing the nature of this conflict I have 
specified the causes in which it originated ; and though I have mention- 
ed the conduct and constitution of the colonial government as modi- 
fying the character of the struggle, I have not attributed to political 
causes a state of things which would, I believe, under any political insti- 
tutions, have resulted from the very composition of society. A jealousy 
between two racss, so long habituated to regard each other with heredi- 
tary enmity, and so differing in habits, in language, and in laws, would 
have been inevitable under any form of government. That liberal insti. 
tutions and a prudent policy might have changed the character of the 
struggle I have no doubt, but they could not have prevented it; they 
could only have softened its character, and brought it more, speedily to a 
m re decisive and peaceful conclusion. Unhappily, however, the system 
of government pursued in Lower Canada has been based on the policy of 
perpetuating that very separation of the races, and encouraging these 
very notions of conflicting nationalities which it ought to have been the 
first and chief care of government to check and extinguish. From the 
period of the conquest to the present time the conduct of the govern- 
ment has aggravated the evil, and the origin of the present extreme dis- 
order may be found in the institutions by which the character of the co. 
lony was determined. 

There are two modes by which government may deal with a conquered 
territory. The first course open to it is that of respecting the rights and 
nationality of the actual occupants; of recognizing the existing laws, 
and preserving established institutions; of giving no encouragement to 
the influx of the conquering people, and, without attempting any change 
in the elements of the community, merely incorporating the province 
under the general authority of the central government. The second is • 
that of treating the conquered territory as one open to the conquerors, 
of encouraging their influx, of regarding the conquered race as entirely 
subordinate, and of endeavouring as speedily and as rapidly as possible to 
uapimilate the character and institutions of its new subjects to those of 



25 

the great body of its empire. In the case of an old and long settled 
country, in which the land is appropriated, in which little room is left for 
colonization, and in which the race of the actual occupants must con- 
tinue to constitute the bulk of the future population of the province, pol. 
icy as well as humanity render the well. being of the conquered people 
the first care of a just government, and recommend the adoption ef the 
first. mentioned system ; but in a new and unsettled country, a provident 
legislator would regard as his first object the interests not only of the fe\r 
individuals who happen at the moment to inhabit a portion of the soil, 
but those of that comparatively vast population by which he may reason- 
ably expect that it will be filled ; he would form his plans with a view 
of attracting and nourishing that future population, and he would there, 
fore establish those institutions which would be most acceptable to the 
race by which he hoped to colonize the country. The course which I 
have described as best suited to an old and settled country would have 
been impossible in the American continent, unless the conquering state 
meant to renounce the immediate use of the unsettled lands of the Prov- 
ince ; and >b this case such a course would have been additionally unad- 
visable, unless the British government were prepared to abandon to the 
scanty population ol French whom it found in Lower Canada, not mere- 
ly the possession of the vast extent of rich soil which that province con- 
tains, but also the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and all the facilities for 
trade which the entrance of that great river commands. 

In the first regulations adopted by the British Government for the set. 
clement of the Canadas, in the proclamation of 1763, and the commission 
of the Governorin. Chief of the province of Quebec, in tho offers by 
which officers and soldiers of the British army, and settlers from the 
other North American Provinces, were tempted to accept grants of land 
in the Canadas, we perceive very clear indications of an intention of 
adopting the second and the wiser of the two systems. Unfortunately, 
however, the conquest of Canada was almost immediately followed by 
the commencement of those discontents which ended in the independence 
of the United Provinces. From that period the colonial policy cf this 
country appears to have undergone a complete change. To prevent the 
further dismemberment of the empire became the primary object with our 
statesmen ; and an especial anxiety was exhibited to adopt every expedi- 
ent which appeared calculated to prevent the remaining North American 
Colonies from following the example of successful revolt. Unfortunate- 
ly, the distinct national character of the French inhabitants of Canada, 
and their ancient hostility to the people of New England, presented the 
easiest and most obvious line of demarcation. To isolate the inhabitants 
of the British from those of the revolted colonies became the policy of the 
government, and the nationality of the French Canadians was therefore 
cultivated, as a means of perpetual and entire separation from their 
neighbours.* It seems also to have been considered the policy of the 

* This policy was not abandoned even at so late a period as the year 1816 ; as 
will appear by the following despatch from Lord Bathurstto the governor of Low- 
er Canada: — 

"Downing-street, July 1,1816. 

" Sir,— -You are, no doubt, aware of tho enquiries which have been made in 
the province as tj the practicability of leaving in a state of nature that part of the 
frontier which lies between the Lake Champlain and Montreal ; and you have, 
no doub t, had under your review, the report of the surveyor-general on this 
subject, which was enclosed in Sir Gordon Diummond's despatch of 21st April, 
1816, No. 119. With the opinion which his Majesty's government entertains upon 
this subject, it cannot but be a matter of regret to think that any settlements 
should have been made in the districts of Hernmingford, Sherrington, Godman- 
chester, or Hinchinbrook. But at the same time I cannot recommend the dispos- 
session of the settlers, at the expense which must result from the purchase of the 
lands which they have cleared, and the improvements which they have made up- 
on them, unless, indeed, that purchase could be effected by an adequate assign- 
ment of other waste lands of the crown in other quarters. I must confine myself 
therefore, to instructing you to abstain altogether from making, hereafter, any 
grants in these districts, and to use every endeavor to induce those who have re- 
ceived grants there, and have not yet proceeded to the cultivation of them, to ac- 

D 



m 

British government to govern its colonies by means ot division, and to 
break them down as much as possible into petty isolated communities, 
incapable of combination, and possessing no sufficient strength for indi- 
vidual resistance to the empire. Indications of such designs are to be 
found in many of the acts of the British government with respect to its 
North American Colonies. In 1775 instructions were sent from Eng. 
land, directing that all grants of land within the province of Quebec, 
then comprising Upper and Lower Canada, were to be made in fief and 
seigniory ; and even the grants to the refugee loyalists, and officers and 
privates of the colonial corps, promised in 1786, were ordered to be made 
on the same tenure. In no instanco was it more singularly exhibited 
than in the condition annexed to the grants of land in Prince Edward's 
Island, by which it was stipulated that the island was to be settled by •« fo- 
reign Protestants ;" as if they were to be foreign in order to separate 
them from the people of New England, and Protestants, in order to keep 
them apart from the Canadian and Acadian Catholics. It was part of the 
same policy to separate the French of Canada from the British emigrants, 
and to conciliate the former by the retention of thsir language, laws and 
religious institutions. For this purpose Canada was afterwards divided 
into two provinces, the settled portion being allotted to the French, and 
the unsettled being destined to be become the seat of British colonization. 
Thus, instead of availing itself of the means which the extent and nature 
of the province afforded for the gradual introduction of such an English 
population into its various parts as might have easily placed the French 
in a minority, the government deliberately constituted the French into 
a majority, and recognised and strengthened their distinct national cha- 
racter. Had the sounder policy of making the Province English, in all 
its institutions, been adopted from the first, and steadily persevered in, 
the French would probably have been speedily outnumbered, and the be- 
neficial operation of the free institutions of England would never have 
been impeded by the animosities of origin. 

Not only, however, did the government adopt the unwise course of 
dividing Canada, and forming in one of its divisions a French commu- 
nity, speaking the French Language, and retaining French institutions, 
but it did not even carry this consistently into effect ; for at the same 
time provision was made for encoureging the emigration of English into 
the very province which was said t> be assigned to the French. Even 
the French institutions were not extended over the whole of Lower Ca- 
nada. The civil law of France, as a whole, and the legal provision for 
the Catholic clergy, were limited to the portion of the country then set- 
tled by the French, and comprised in the seigniories ; though some pro-> 
vision was made for the formation of new seignories, almost the whole 
of the then unsettled portion of the province was formed into town- 
ships, in which the law of England was partially established, and the 
protestant religion alone endowed. Thus two populations of hostile ori- 
gin and different characters were brought into juxta. position under a 
common government, but under different institutions ; each was taught 
to cherish its own language, laws, and habits, and each, at the same 

cept uncleared lands in other districts, more distant from the frontier of the Uni- 
ted States. In some cases, where the lands have been long granted, they must, . 
I apprehend, under the usual conditions of the grants, have become resumable 
by the Crown ; and in such case you can have no difficulty in preventing their 
cultivation ; and the expediency of making other grants, in lieu of those resumed, 
will depend upon the particular circumstances of each individual case. 

"It is also very desirable that you should, as far as lies in your power, prevent 
the extension of roads in the direction of those particular districts beyond the 
limits of that division of the province referred to in the plan of the Surveyor-gen- 
eral as being generally cultivated ; and if any means should present themselves of 
letting those which have been already made, fall into decay, you will best com- 
ply with the views of his Majesty's government, and materially contribute to the 
future security of the province by their adoption. 

I have the honor, Ac. 
(Signed) "Bathuhst. 

"Lieutenant- General Sir J. O. Sherbrooke, &c." 



27 

time, if it moved beyond its original limits, was brought under different 
institutions, and associated with a different people. The unenterprising 
character of the French population, and, above all, its attachment to its 
church (for the enlargement of which, in proportion to the increase or 
diffusion of the Catholic population, very inadequate provision was made) 
have produced the effect of confining it within its ancient limits. But 
the English were attracted into the eeignories, and especially into the 
cities, by the facilities of commerce afforded by the great rivers. To 
have effectually given the policy of retaining French institutions and a 
French population in Lower Canada a fair chance of success, no other 
institution should have been allowed, and no other race should have re- 
ceived any encouragement to settle therein. The province should have 
been set apart to wholly French, if it was not to be rendered com- 
pletely English. The attempt to encourage English Emigration into a 
community, of which the French character was still to be preserved, was 
an error which planted the seeds of a contest of races in the very con. 
stitution of the colony ; this was an error, I mean, even on the assump- 
tion that it was possible to exclude the English race from French Cana- 
da. But it was quite impossible to exclude the English race from any 
part of the North American continent. It will be acknowledged by ev- 
ery one who has observed the progress of Anglo Saxon colonization in 
America, that sooner or later the English race was sure to predominate 
even numerically in Lower Canada, as they predominate already, by 
their superior knowledge, energy, enterprise, and wealth. The error, 
therefore, to which the present contest must be attributed is the vain en- 
deavor to preserve a French Canadian nationality in the midst of Anglo- 
American colonies end states. 

That contest has arisen by degrees. The scanty number of the Eng. 
lish who settled in Lower Canada during the earlier period of our pos- 
session put out of the question any ideas of rivalry between the races.— 
Indeed until the popular principles of English institutions were brought 
effectually into operation, the paramount authority of the government 
left little room for dispute among any but the few who contended for its 
favors. It was not until the English had established a vast trade and 
accumulated considerable wealth, until a great part of the landed pro. 
perty of the province was vested in their hands, until a large English 
population was found in the cities, had scattered itself over large por- 
tions of the country, and had formed considerable communities in the 
townships, and not until the developement of representative government 
had placed substantial power in the hands of the people, that that people 
divided itself into races, arrayed against each other in intense and endur- 
ing animosity. 

The errors of the government did not cease with that to which I have 
attributed the origin of this animosity. The defects of the colonial con- 
stitution necessarily brought the executive government into collision 
with the people ; and the disputes of the government and the people cal- 
led into action the animosities of race ; nor has the policy of the gov. 
ernment obviated the evils inherent in the constitution of the colony, 
and the composition of society. It has done nothing to repair its origi- 
nal error, by making the province English. Occupied in a continual 
conflict with the assembly, successive governors and their councils have 
overlooked, in great measure, the real importance of the feud of origin; 
and the imperial government, far removed from opportunities of personal 
observation of the peculiar state of society, has shaped its policy so as to 
aggravate the disorder. In some instances it has actually conceded the 
mischievous pretensions of nationality, in order to evade popular claims ; 
as in attempting to divide the Legislative Council, and the patronage of 
government, equally between the two races, in order to avoid the de. 
mands for an elective council and a responsible executive : sometimes it 
has, for a while, pursued the opposite course. A policy founded upon 
imperfect information, and conducted by continually changing hands 
has exhibited to the colony a system of vacillation which was in fact no 
system at all. The alternate concessions to the contending races have 



28 

t)hly irritated both, impaired the authority of government, and by keep, 
ing alive the hopes of a French Canadian nationality, counteracted the 
influences which might, ere this, have brought the quarrel to its natural 
and necessary termination. It is imposible to determine precisely the 
respective effects of the social and political causes. The struggle be- 
tween the government and the Assembly has aggravated the animosities 
of race ; and the animosities of race have rendered the political difference 
irreconcileable, No remedy can be efficient that does not operate upon 
both evils. At the root of the disorders of Lower Canada, lies the con- 
flict of the two races, which compose its population; until this is settled, 
no good government is practicable ; for whether the political institutions 
be reformed or left unchanged, whether the powers of the government bo 
entrusted to the majority or the minority, we may rast assured that while 
the hostility of the races continues, whichever of them is entrusted with 
power will use it for partial purposes. 

I have described the contest between the French and English races in 
Lower Canada with minuteness, because it was my wish to produce a 
complete and general conviction of the prominent importance of that 
struggle, when we are taking into consideration the cases of those disor- 
ders which have so grievously afflicted the province. I have not, how*, 
ever, during the course of my preceding remarks, been able to avoid al- 
luding to other causes, which have greatly contributed to occasion the 
existing state of things ; and I have specified among these the defect of 
the constitution, and the errors arising out of the system of government. 
It is indeed impossible to believe that the assigned cause of the struggle 
between the government and the majority have had no effect, even though 
we may believe that they have had much less than the contending parties 
imagined. It is impossible to observe the great similarity of the consti- 
tutions established in all our North American provinces, and the striking 
tendency of all to terminate in pretty nearly the same result, without 
entertaining a belief th at some defect in the form of government, and 
some erroneous principle of administration ; have been common to all ; 
the hostility of the races being palpably insufficient to account for all the 
evils which have affected Lower Canada, inasmuch as nearly the same 
results have been exhibited among the homogeneous population of the 
other provinces. It is but too evident that Lower Canada, or the two 
Canadas, have not alone exhibited repeated conflicts between the execu- 
tive and the popular branches of the Legislature. The representative 
body of Upper Canada was, before the late election, hostile to the policy 
of the government ; the most serious discontents have only recently been 
calmed in Princo Edward's Island and New Brunswick ; the govern- 
ment is still, I believe, in a minority in the lower house in Nova Scotia ; 
and the dissensions of Newfoundland are hardly less violent than those 
of the Canadas. It may fairly be said that the natural state of go. 
vernment in all these colonies is that of collision between the executive 
and the representative body. In all of them the administration of pub- 
lic affairs is habitually confided to those who do not co-operate harmoni- 
ously with the popular branch of the legislature ; and the government is 
constantly proposing measures which the majority of the Assembly re. 
ject, and refusing its assent to bills which that body has passed. 

A state of things, so different from the working of any successful ex. 
periment of representative government appears to indicate a deviation 
from sound constitutional principles or practice. Though occasional 
collisions between the Crown and the House of Commons have occurred 
in this country since the establishment of our constitution at the revolu- 
tion of 1688, they have been rare and transient. A state of frequent 
and lasting collisions appears almost identical with one of convulsion 
and anarchy ; and its occurrence in any country is calculated to perplex 
us as to the mode in which any government can be carried on therein, 
without an entire evasion of popular control. But, when we examine 
into the system of government in these colonies, it would almost seem 
as if the object of those by whom it was established had been the com 



29 

billing of apparently popular institutions with an utter absence of all effi- 
cient control of the pople over their rulers. Representative assemblies 
were established on the basis of a very wide, and, in some cases almost 
universal snfferage ; the annual meoting of these bodies were secured by 
positive enactment, and their apparent attributes were locally nearly as 
extensive as those of the English House of Commons. At the same 
time the Crown almost entirely relied on it« territorial lesources, and on 
duties imposed by Imperial acts, prior to the introduction of the repre- 
sentative system, for carrying on the government without securing the 
assent of the representative body, either to its policy, or to the persons 
by whom that policy was to be administered. 

It was not until some years after the commencement of the present 
century that the population of Lower Canada began to understand the 
representative system which had been extended to them, and that tho 
Assembly evinced any inclination to make use of its powers. Immedi- 
ately, however, upon its so doing, it found how limited those powers 
were, and entered upon a struggle to obtain the authority which analogy 
pointed out as inherent in a representative assembly. Its freedom of 
speech immediately brought it into collision with the governor ; and the 
practical working of the Assembly commenced by its principal leaders 
being thrown into prison, In the course of time, however, the govern- 
ment was induced, by its necessities, to accept the Assembly's offer to 
raise an additional revenue by fresh taxes; and the Assembly thus acquir- 
ed a certain control over the levying and appropriation of a portion of the 
public revenue. From that time until the final abandonment in 1832 
of every portion of the reserved revenue, excepting the casual and 
territorial funds, an unceasing contest was carried on, in which the 
Assembly, making use of every power which it gained for the purpose of 
gaining more, acquired step by step an entire control over the whole re- 
venue of the country. 

1 thus pass briefly over the events which has heretofore been consi- 
dered the principal feature of the Canadian controversy, because, as the 
contest has ended in concession of the financial demands of the As« 
sembly, and the admission by the Government of the impropriety of 
attempting to withhold any portion of the public revenues from its con- 
troul, that contest can now be regarded as of no importance, except as 
accounting tor the exasperation and suspicion which survived it. Nor 
am I inclined to think that the disputes which subsequently occurred are 
to be attributed entirely to tho operation of mere angry feelings. A sub- 
stantial cause of contest yet remained. The Assembly after it had ob- 
tained entire control over the public revenues, still found itself deprived 
of all voice in the choice or even designation of the persons in whose 
administration of affairs it could feel confidence. All the administrative 
power of government remained entirely free from its influences and though 
Mr. Papineau appears by his own conduct to have deprived himself of 
that influence in the government which he might have acquired, I must 
attribute the refusal of a civil list to the determination of the Assembly 
not to give up its only means of subjecting the functionaries of govern- 
ment to any responsibility. 

The powers for which the Assembly contended appear, in both instan- 
ces, to be such as it was perfectly justified in demanding. It is difficult 
to conceive what could have been their theory of government who ima- 
gined that in any colony of England a body invested with the name and 
character of a representative assembly could be deprived of any of those 
powers which, in the opinion of Englishmen, are inherent in a popular 
legislature It was a vain delusion to imagine that by mere limitations 
in the Constitutional Act, or an exclusive system of government, a body, 
strong in the consciousness of wielding the public opinion of the majo- 
rity, could regard certain portions of the provincial revenues as sacred 
from its control, could confine itself to the mere business of making laws, 
and look on as a passive or indifferent spectator, while those laws were 
carried into effect or evaded, and the whole business of the country was 
conducted by men in whose intentions or capacity it had not the slightest 



30 

confidence. Yet such was the limitation placed on the authority of tha 
Assembly of Lower Canada ; it might refuse or pass laws, vote or with, 
hold supplies, but it could exercise no influence on the nomination of a 
single servant of the crown. The Executive Council, the law officers, 
and whatever heads of departments are known to the administrative sys- 
tem of the province, were placed in power, without any regard to the 
wishes of the people or their representatives ; nor indeed are there want, 
ing instances in which a mere hostility to the majority of the Assembly 
elevated the most incompetent persons to posts of honour and trust. 
However decidedly the Assembly might condemn the policy of the go. 
ernment, the persons who had advised that policy, retained their offices 
and their power of giving bad advice. If a law was passed after repeat- 
ed conflicts, it had to be carried into effect by those who had most strenu- 
ously opposed it. The wisdom of adopting the true principle of repre- 
sentative government, and facilitating the management of public affairs, 
by entrusting it to the persons who have the confidence of the represen. 
tative body, has never been recognised in the government of the North 
American Colonies. Ali the officers of government were independent of 
the Assembly ; and that body which had nothing to say to ther appoint- 
ment, was left to get on as it best might, with a set of public functiona- 
ries, whose paramount feeling may not unfairly be said to have been one 
of hostility to itself. 

A body of holders of office thus constituted, without reference to the 
people or their representatives, must, in fact, from the very nature of 
colonial government, acquire the entire direction of the affairs of the pro- 
vince. A governor, arriving in a colony in which he almost invariably 
has had no previous acquaintance with the state of parties, or the cha- 
racter of individuals, is compelled to throw himself almost entirely upon 
those whom he finds placed in the position of his official advisers. His 
first acts must necessarily be performed, and his first appointments made, 
at their suggestion. And as these first acts and appointments give a 
character to his policy,he is generally brought thereby into collision with 
the other parties in the country, and thrown into more complete depen- 
dence upon the official party and its friends. Thus, a Gov. of L.Canada 
has almost always been brought into immediate collision with the As- 
sembly, which his advisers regard as their enemy. In the course of the 
contestin which he was thus involved, the provocations which he received 
from the assembly and the light in which their conduct was represented 
by those who alone had any access to him, naturally imbued him with 
many of their antipathies ; his position compelled him to seek the sup- 
port of some party against the Assembly ; and his feelings and his ne- 
cessities thus combined to induce him to bestow his patronage and to 
shape his measures to promote the interest of the party on which he was 
obliged to lean. Thus, every successive year consolidated and enlarged 
the strength of the ruling party. Fortified by family connection, and the 
common interest felt by all who held, and all who desire, subordinate offi- 
ces, that party was thus erected into a solid and permanent power, con- 
trolled by no responsibility, subject to no serious change, exercising over 
the whole government of the province an authority utterly independent 
of the people and its representatives, and possessing the only means of in- 
fluencing either the government at home, or the colonial representative 
of the Crown. 

This entire separation of the Legislative and Executive powers of 
state, is the natural error of government desirous of being free from 
the check of representative institutions. Since the revolution of 1688, 
the stability of the English constitution has been secured by that wise 
principle of our government which has vested the direction of the nation- 
al policy, and the distribution of patronage, in the leaders of the Parlia- 
mentary majority. However partial the Monarch might be to particular 
Ministers, or however he might have personlly committed himself to 
their policy, he has invariably been constrained to abandon both, as 6oon 
as the opinion of the people has been irrevocably pronounced against 
them through the medium of the House of Commons. The practice of 



31 

carrying on a representative government on a different principle seems 
to be the rock on which continental imitations of the British constitution 
have invariably split ; and the French revolution in 1830 was the neces- 
sary result 01 an attempt to uphold a ministry with which no Parliament 
could be got to act in concert. It is difficult to understand how any 
English statesman could have imagined that representative and irrespon- 
sible government could be successfully combined. There seems, indeed, 
to be an idea that the character of representative institutions ought«to be 
thus modified in colonies ; that it is an incident of colonial dependence, 
that the officers of government should be nominated by the crown, with. 
out any reference to the wishes of the community, whose interests are 
entrusted to their keeping. It has never been very clearly explained 
what are the imperial interests, which require the complete nullification 
of representative government. But, if there be such a necessity, it is 
quite clear that a representative government in a colony must be a 
mockery, and a source of confusion. For those who support this sys. 
tem have never yet been able to devise, or to exhibit in the practical 
working of colonial government, any means for making so complete an 
abrogation of political influence palatable to the representative body. — 
It is not difficult to apply the case to our own country. Let it be imagined 
that at a general election the opposition were to return 500 out of 658 
members of the House of Commons, and that the whole policy of the min- 
istry should be condemned, and every bill introduced by it rejected by this 
immense majority. Let it be supposed that the crown should consider it 
a point of honour and duty to retain a ministry so condemned and so 
thwarted; that repeated dissolutions should in no way increase, but 
should even diminish, the ministerial minority ; and that the only result 
which could be obtained by such a developement of the force of the op- 
position, were not the slightest change in the policy of the ministry, not 
the removal of a single minister, but simply the election of a Speaker of 
the politics of the majority ; and, I think, it will not be difficult to ima- 
gine the fate of such a system of Government. Yet such was the sys- 
tem, such literally was the course of events in Lower Canada, and such 
in character, though not quite in degree, was the spectacle exhibited in 
Upper Canada, and, at one time or another, in every one of the North 
American Colonies. To suppose that such a system would work well 
there, implies a belief that the French Canadians have enjoyed represen- 
tative institutions for half a centuary, without acquiring any of the cha- 
racteristics of a free people ; that Englishmen renounce every political 
opinion and feeling when they enter a colony, or that the spirit of An- 
glo-Saxon freedom is utterly changed and weakened among those who 
are transplanted across the Atlantic. 

It appears, therefore, that the opposition of the Assembly to the gov- 
ernment was the unavoidable result of a system which stinted the popu- 
lar branch of the Legislature of the necessary privileges of a representa. 
tive body, and produced thereby a long series of attempts on the part of 
that body to acquire control over the administration of the province. I 
say all this without reference to the ultimate aim of the Assembly, which 
I have before described as being the maintenance of a Canadian nation- 
ality against the progressive intrusion of the English race. Having no 
responsible ministers to deal with, it entered upon that system of long 
inquiries by means of its committees, which brought the whole action of 
the executive immediately under its purview, and trangressed our no- 
tions of the proper limits of parliamentary interference. Having no in- 
fluence in the choice of any public functionary, no power to procure the 
removal of such as were obnoxious to it merely on political grounds, and 
seeing almost every office of the colony filled by persons in whom it had 
no confidence, it entered on that vicious course oi assailing its promi. 
nent opponents individually, and disqualifying them for the public ser. 
vice, by making them the subjects of inquiries and consequent impeach- 
ments, not always conducted with even the appearance of a due regard 
to justice ; and when nothing else could attain its end of altering the 
policy or the composition of the colonial government, it had recourse to 



32 

that ultima ratio ot representative power to which the more prudent for- 
bearance ot the Crown has never driven the house of Commons in Eng* 
land, and endeavoured to disable the whole machine of government by a 
general refusal of the supplies. 

It was an unhappy consequence of the system which I have been de- 
scribing, that it relieved the popular leaders of all the responsibilities of 
opposition. A member of opposition in this country acts and speaks 
with the contingency of becoming a minister constantly before his eyes, 
and he feels, therefore, the necessity of proposing no course, and of as- 
serting no principles, on which he would not be prepared to conduct the 
government, if he were immediately offered it. But the colonial dema- 
gogue bids high for popularity without the fear of future exposure. — 
Hopelessly excluded from power, he expresses the wildest opinions, and 
appeals to the most mischievous passions of the people, without any ap- 
prehension of having his sincerity or prudence heieafter tested, by being 
placed in a position to carry his views into effect ; and thus the prominent 
places in the ranks of opposition are occupied for the most part by men 
of strong passions, and merely declamatory powers, who think but little 
of reforming the abuses which serve them as topics for exciting dis- 
content. 

The collision with the Executive Government necessarily brought on 
one with the Legislative Council. The composition of this body, which 
has been so much the subject of discussion both here and in the colony, 
must certainly be admitted to have been such as could give it no weight 
with the people, or with the representative body, on which it was meant 
to be a check. The majority was always composed of members of the 
party which conducted the Executive Government ; the clerks of each 
council were members of the other ; and in fact, the Legislative Council 
was pratically hardly anything but a veto in the hands of public func- 
tionaries on all the acts of that popular branch of the Legislature in 
which they were always in a minority. This veto they used without 
much scruple. I am far from concurring in the censure which the as- 
sembly and its advocates have attempted to cast on the acts of the Legis- 
lative council. I have no hesitation in saying that many of the bills 
which it is most severely blamed for rejecting, were bills which it could 
not have passed without a dereliction of its duty to the constitution, the 
connection with Great Britain, and the whole English population of the 
colony. If there is any censure to be passed on its general conduct, it is 
for having confined itself to the merely negative and defensive duties 
of a legislative body ; for having too frequently contented itself, with 
merely defeating objectionable methods of obtaining desirable ends, with, 
out completing its duty by proposing measures, which would haveachiev. 
ed the good in view without the mixture of evil. The national animosi- 
ties which pervaded the legislation of the assembly, and its thorough 
want of legislation skill or respect for constitutional principles, rendered 
almost all its bills obnoxious to the objections made by the Legislative 
Council ; and the serious evil which their enactment would have occa- 
sioned, convinces me that the colony has reason to congratulate itself on 
the existence of an institution which possessed and used the power of 
stopping a course of legislation that, if successful, would have sacrificed 
every British interest, and overthrown every guarantee of order and na- 
tional liberty. It is not difficult for us to judge thus calmly of the res- 
pective merits of these distant parlies; but it must have been a great and 
deep-rooted respect for the constitution and composition of the Legisla- 
tive Council, that could havo induced tiie representatives of a great ma- 
jority to submit with patience to the impediment thus placed in their way 
by a few individuals. But the Legislative Council, was neither theoreti- 
cally unobjectionable, nor personally esteemed by the assembly ; its op- 
position appeared to that body but another form of official hos:ility, and 
it was inevitable that the assembly should, sooner or later, make those 
assaults on the constitution of the Legislative Council, which, by the sin. 
gular want of judgment and temper with which they were conducted, 
ended in the destruction of the provincial constitution. 



93 

From the commencement, therefore, to the end of the disputes which 
Ynark the whole parliamentary history of Lower Canada, I look on the 
conduct of the Assembly as a constant warfare with the Executive, for 
the purpose of obtaining the powers inherent in a representative body by 
the very nature of representative government. It was to accomplish this 
purpose, that it used every means in its power ; but it must be censured 
for having, in pursuit of this object, perverted its powers of legislation, 
and disturbed the whole working of the constitution. It made the business 
of legislation, and the practical improvement of the country, subordinate 
to its struggle for power ; and, being denied its legitimate privileges, it 
endeavoured to extend its authority in modes totally incompatible with 
the principles of constitutional liberty. 

One glaring attempt which was made directly and openly to subvert 
the constitution of the country, was by passing a bill for the formal repeal 
of those parts of the 31 Geo. III. c. 31, commonly called the Constitu- 
tional Act, by which the constitution and powers of the Legislative Coun- 
cil were established. It can hardly be supposed that the framers of this 
bill were unaware, or hoped to make any concealment of the obvious il- 
legality of a measure which, commencing, as all Canadian acts do, by 
a recital of the 31st Geo. III., as the foundation of the legislative autho. 
rity of the assembly, proceeded immediately to infringe some of the most 
important provisions of that very statute ; nor can it be supposed that 
the Assembly hoped really to carry into effect this extraordinary assump- 
tion of power, inasmuch as the bill could derive no legal effect from pas- 
sing the lower bouse, unless it should subsequently receive the assent of 
the very body which it purported to annihilate. 

A more dangerous, because, in some measure, more effectual device 
for assuming unconstitutional powers, was practised by the Assembly in its 
attempts to evade the necessity of obtaining the assent of the other bran- 
ches of the Legislature, by claiming for its own resolutions, and that 
too, on points of the greatest importance, the force of laws. A remarkable 
instance of this was exhibited in the resolution which the Assembly passed 
on the rejection of a bill for vacatingthe seats of members on the acceptance 
of offices under the Crown ; and which, in fact, and undisguisedly, purport, 
ed, by its own single authority, to give effect to the provisions of the re- 
jected bill. This resolution brought the Assembly into a long dispute 
with Lord Aylmer, in consequence of his refusing to issue a writ for the 
election of a member in place of Mr. Mondelet, whose seat was declared 
vacant in consequence of his having accepted the office of Ex-ecutive 
Councillor. The instance in which the Assembly thus attempted to en- 
force this principle of disqualification happened to be one to which it 
could not be considered applicable, either from analogy to the law of 
England, or from the apparent intent of the resolution itself; for the of- 
fice which Mr. Mondelet accepted, though one of high importance and 
influence, was one to which no salary or emolument of any kind was at- 
tached. 

But the evils resulting from such open attempts to dispense with the 
constitution were small, in comparison with the disturbance of the regu- 
lar course of legislation by systematic abuse of constitutional forms, for 
the purpose of depriving the other branches of the legislature of all real 
legislative authority. The custom of passing the most important laws 
in a temporary form has been an ancient and extensive defect of the le- 
gislation of the North American colonies, partially authorised by royal in- 
structions to the governors, but never sanctioned by the Imperial Legis- 
lature, until it was established in Lower Canada by the 1st Vict. c. 9. It 
remained, however, for the Assembly of Lower Canada to reduce the 
practice to a regular system, in order that it might have the most impor- 
tant institutions of the province periodically at its mercy, and use the ne- 
cessities of the government and the community for the purpose of extor. 
ting the concession of whatever demands it might choose to make. Ob- 
jectionable in itself, on account of the uncertainty and continual changes 
which it tended to introduce into legislation, this system of temporary 
laws derived its worst character from the facilities which it afforded to 



34 

She practice of " tacking" together various legislative measures J a prac^ 
lice not unknown to the British constitution, and which had sometimes 
been found useful, because the prudence of the House of Commons has 
induced that body rarely to have recourse to it, but which the legislators 
of Lower Canada converted into the ordinary mode of legislation. By 
the abuse of this practice, any branch of the legislature had during eve- 
ry session the power, if it had the inclination, to make the renewal of 
expiring laws the means of dictating its own terms to the others ; and to 
this end it was systematically converted by the Assembly. It adopted 
the custom of renewing all expiring laws, however heterogeneous in their 
character, in one and the same bill. Having the first choice to exercise, 
it renewed, of course, only those acts of which it approved, and left to 
the Legislative Council and the governors only the alternative of reject, 
ing such as had proved to be beneficial, or passing such as in their 
opinion had proved to be mischievous. A singular instance of this oc- 
curred in 1836 with respect to the renewal of the jury.law, to which the 
Assembly attached great importance, and to which the legislative coun. 
cil felt a strong repugnance, on account of its having in effect placed the 
juries entirely in the hands of the French portion of the population. In 
order to secure the renewal of this law, the Assembly coupled it in the 
same bill, by which it renewed the tolls of the Lashine Canal, calcula- 
ting on the Council not venturing to defeat a measure of so much im- 
portance to the revenue as the latter, by resisting the former. The Coun- 
cil, however, rejected the bill ; and thus the canal remained toll-free for a 
whole season, because the two houses differed about a jury law. 

Nor was this custom of •• tacking" confined to the case of the renew, 
al of expiring laws. A bill for the independence ot the judges was cou- 
pled with the establishment of a new tribunal for trying impeachments, 
and, with other provisions, to which it was known that the Crown was 
decidedly hostile, and thus, in the attempt to extort an objectionable 
concession, a most desirable guarantee for the pure administration of jus- 
tice was sacrificed. 

The system thus framed, was completed by the regulations with res. 
pect to a quorum, and the use which the majority made of them. A 
quorum of nearly half the whole house was required for the transaction 
of business. Towards the end of every recent session the majority used to 
break up the quorum and disperse to their respective homes, without wait, 
ing to be prorogued, immediately after sending up a number of bills to the 
council, thus leaving no means of considering or adopting any amend, 
ments which that body might make, and leaving it no option but 
that of rejecting or confirming by wholesale the measures of the assem- 
bly. 

Bat in describing the means by which the assembly obtained and at- 
tempted to consolidate its power, I must not omit to direct particular 
attention to that which, after all, was the most effectual, and which 
originated in a defect common to the system of government in all the 
North American colonies ; it is the practice of making parliamentary 
grants for local works— a system so vicious and so productive of evil, 
that I believe that until it is entirely eradicated, representative govern. 
ment will be incapable of working well and smoothly in those colonies. 

I know, indeed, of no difference in the machinery of government in 
the Old and New World that strikes a European more forcibly than the 
apparently undue importan ce whieh the business of constructing publio 
works appears to occupy in American legislation. In speaking of the 
character of a government, its merits appear to be estimated by the public 
works which it has carried into effect. If an individual is asked how his 
own Legislature has acted, he will generally say what roads or bridges it 
has made, or neglected to make, in his own district ; and if he is consult- 
ed about changes in a constitution, he seems to try their soundness by 
calculating whether his neighbourhood would get more and better roads 
and bridges under the existing or the proposed system. On examining 
the proceedings of a Legislature, we find that a great proportion of its 
discussions turn on such questions ; and if we look to the budget, we 



• 35 

find that a still greater proportion of the public money is applied to 
these purposes. Those who reflect on the circumstances of the New 
World, will not find it very difficult to account for the attention there 
paid to what is necessarily the first business of society, and is naturally 
the first care of every responsible government. The provision which, in 
Europe, the state makes for the protection ofits citizens against foreign 
enemies, is in America required for what a French writer has beautifully 
and accurately called the " war with the wilderness." The defence of 
an important fortress, or the maintenance of a sufficient army or navy in 
exposed spots, is not more a matter of common concern to the European, 
than is the construction of the great communications to the American 
settler ; and the state, very naturally takes on itself the making of the 
works, which are matters of concern to all alike. 

Even the municipal institutions of the northern states of the'American 
Union have not entirely superseded the necessity of some interference on 
the part of the legislatures in aid of local improvements ; though the 
main efforts of those states have been directed to those vast undertakings 
which are the common concern and the common glory of their citizens. 
In the southern states, where municipal institutions are less complete, 
the legislature are in the habit of taking part more constantly and ex- 
tensively in works which are properly of mere local interest; and great 
complaints are made of consequent corruption and mismanagement.— 
But in the British colonies, in none of which is there any effectual sys. 
tern of municipal government, the evil has been carried to the greatest 
height, and exercises the most noxious influence. The great business 
of the Assemblies is, literally, parish business ; the making parish roads 
and parish bridges. There are in none of these provinces any local bo. 
dies possessing authority to impose local assessments, for the manage, 
ment of local affairs. To do these things is the business of the Assem- 
bly ; and to induce the Assembly to attend to the particular interests of 
each county, is the especial business of its county member. The sur- 
plus revenue of the province is swelled to as large an amount as possi. 
ble, by cutting down the payment of public services to as low a scale as 
possible ; and the real duties of government are, sometimes, insufficiently 
provided for, in order that more may be left to be divided among the con- 
etitutent bodies. "When we want a bridge, we take a judge to build 
it," was the quaint and forcible way in which a member of a provincial le- 
gislature described the tendency to retrench, in the most necessary de. 
partments of the public service, in order to satisfy the demands for local 
works. This fund is voted by the Assembly on the motion of its mem. 
bers ; the necessity of obtaining the previous consent of the Crown to 
money votes never having been adopted by the Colonial Legislatures 
from the practice of the British House of Commons. There is a perfect 
scramble among the whole body to get as much as possible of this fund 
for their respective constituents ; cabals are formed, by which tbe differ, 
ent members mutually play into each other's hands ; general politics are 
made to bear on private business, and private business on general poli- 
tics ; and at the close of the Parliament, the member who has succeeded 
in securing the largest portion of the prize for his constituents, renders 
an easy account of his stewardship, with confident assurance of reflec- 
tion. 

The provincial assemblies being, as I have previously staled, in a state 
of permanent collision with the government, have never been in the hab. 
it of entrusting the executive with any control over these funds ; and 
they have been wholly dispensed by commissioners named by the legis- 
lature. The Assemblies do not appear to have been at all insensible to 
the possibility of turning this patronage to their own account. An elec. 
tioneering handbill, which was circulated by the friends of government 
at the last dissolution in Upper Canada, exhibited, in a very strong light, 
the expense of the commissioners, of the Assembly, contrasted with those 
of the officers of the executive government ; but the province of Nova 
Scotia has carried this abuse to an extent which appears almost incon- 
ceivable. According to a report presented to me by Major Head, an as- 



30 

eistant commissioner of inquiry whom I sent to that colony, a sum of 
JEIO.OOO was, during the last session, appropriated to local improve. 
ments ; this sum was divided into 830 portions, and as many commis- 
sioners were appointed to expend it, giving, on an average, a commis- 
sioner for rather more than every £12, with a salary of 5s. a day, and a 
further remuneration of two and a half per cent, on the money expend- 
ed, to be deducted out of each share. 

Not only did the leaders of the Lower Canadian Assembly avail them- 
selves of the patronage thus afforded by the large surplus revenue of the 
province, but they turned this system to much greater account, by using 
it to obtain influence over the constituencies. In a furious political 
struggle, like that which subsisted in Lower Canada, it was natural that 
a body wielding, with hardly any responsibility, this direct power of pro- 
moting the immediate interests of each constituency, should show some 
favor to that which concurred in its political views, and should exhibit 
its displeasure towards that which obstinately resisted the majority. — 
But the majority of the Assembly of Lower Canada is accused by its op. 
ponents of having, in the most systematic and persevering manner, em- 
ployed this means of corrupting the electoral bodies. The adherents of 
Mr. Papineau are said to have been lavish in their promises of the bene, 
fits which they could obtain from the Assembly for the county whose 
suffrages they solicited. By such representations the return of members 
of opposition politics is asserted, in many instances, to have been secur- 
ed ; and obstinate counties are alleged to have been sometimes starved 
into submission, by an entire withdrawal of grants, until they returned 
members favorable to the majority. Some of the English members who 
voted with Mr. Papineau excused themselves to their countrymen, by al- 
leging that they were compelled to do so, in order to get a road or a 
bridge, which their constituents desired. Whether it be true or false 
that the abuse was ever carried to such a pitch, it is obviously one which 
might have been easily and safely perpetrated by a person possessing Mr. 
Papineau's influence in the Assembly. 

But the most bold and extensive attempt frr erecting a system of pa- 
tronage, wholly independent of the government, was that which was, for 
some time, carried into effect by the grants for education made by the 
Assembly, and regulated by the act, which the Legislative Council has 
been most bitterly reproached with refusing to renew- It has been stat- 
ed, as a proof of the deliberate intention of the Legislative Council to 
crush every attempt to civilize and elevate the great mass of the people, 
that it thus stopped at once the working of about 1,000 schools, and de- 
prived of education no less than 40.000 scholars, who were actually pro- 
fitting by the means of instruction thus placed within their reach. But 
the reasons which induced, or rather compelled, the Legislative Council 
to stop this system are clearly stated in the report of that body, which 
contains the most unanswerable justification of the course which it pur- 
sued. By that it appears that the whole superintendence and patronage 
of these schools had, by the expired law, been vested in the hands of the 
county members ; and that they had been allowed to manage the funds 
without even the semblance of sufficient accountability. The members 
of the Assembly had thus a patronage, in this single department, of 
about jE25,000 per annum, an amount equal to half of the whole ordinary 
civil expenditure of the Province. They were not slow in profitting by 
the occasion thus placed in their hands ; and as there existed in the pro- 
vince no sufficient supply of competent schoolmasters and mistresses, 
they nevertheless immediately filled up the appointments with persons 
who were utterly and obviously incompetent. A great proportion of 
the teachers could neither read nor write. The gentlemen whom I di- 
rected to inquire into the state of education in the province showed me a 
petition from certain schoolmasters, which had come into his hands, and 
the majority of the signatures were those of marksmen. These ignorant 
teachers could convey no useful instruction to their pupils ; the utmost 
amount which they taught them was to say the Catechism by rote. — 
Even within seven miles of Montreal there was a schoolmistress thus 



37 

unqualified. — These appointments were, as might have been expected, 
jobbed by the members among their political partisans ; nor were the 
funds very honestly managed. In many cases the members were sus- 
pected or accused of misapplying them to their own use ; and in the 
case of Beauharnois, whero the seigneur, Mr. Ellice, has, in the same 
spirit of judicious liberality, by which his whole management of that ex- 
tensive property has been marked, contributed most largely towards the 
education of his tenants, the school funds were proved to have been mis- 
appropriated by the county member. The whole system was a gross po- 
litical abuse ; and however laudable we must hold the exertions of those 
who really laboured to relieve their country from the reproach of being 
the least furnished with the means of education of any on the North 
American continent, the more severely must we condemn those who sa. 
crificed this noble end, and perverted ample means to serve the purposes 
of party. 

I know not whether to ascribe the system which was adopted for the 
relief of the distress periodically occurring in certain districts, to the same 
policy of extending the influence of the Assembly by local grants, or 
merely to the antiquated prejudices which seem to have pervaded many 
parts of the Assembly's legislation, which dictated laws against huck- 
sters and the maintenance of foundling hospitals. No general system 
for the relief of destitution, no poor-law of any kind was established and 
the wants of the country hardly demanded it. But when I arrived at 
Quebec, I received a number of petitions from parishes situated on the 
lower part of the St. Lawrence, praying for relief, in consequence of 
the failure of the harvest. I found, on inquiry, that relief had been 
granted to these districts for several successive years. The cause of 
the calamity was obvious ; it was the unsuilableness of wheat crops un- 
der the wretched system of Canadian small farming, to the severe cli- 
mate of that portion of the province. By the side of the distressed pa- 
rishes were large districts, in which a better system of farming, and 
above all, the employment of the land for pasture and green crops, had 
diffused the most general comfort among the agricultural population, 
and completely obviated the occurrence of failure or distress. There 
were, in the vicinity of the cistressed parishes, large tracts of rich and 
unsettled land, available for the permanent amelioration of the condition 
of this suffering people ; and there were valuable and extensive fishe- 
ries in the neighbourhood, which might have supported it in comfort ; 
yet no persevering attempt had been made to provide permanent relief 
by encouraging the population which was thus thrown on the legislature 
for support, either to adopt a better system of agriculture, or to settle 
on other portions of the country, or to avail itself of the fisheries — 
The Assembly met the evil by relieving the distress in such a way as to 
stave off its immediate results, and ensure its recurrence. It gave food 
for the season of scarcity, and seed to sow a crop even of wheat as late 
as the 20th of June, which was, of course, to fail in its turn ; for it had 
thus relieved the same kind of distress, in precisely the same places for 
several successive years ; and its policy seemed to be to pension a por- 
tion of the people to sow wheat where it would not ripen. 

It is melancholy to think of the opportunities of good legislation which 
were sacrificed in this mere contest for power. No country in the 
world ever demanded from a paternal government, or patriotic represen- 
tatives, more unceasing and vigorous reforms, both of its laws and its 
administrative system. Lower Canada had, when we received it at the 
conquest, two institutions, which alone preserved the semblance of order 
and civilization in the community — the Catholic church and the militia, 
which was so constituted and used as partially te supply the want of 
better civil institutions. The beneficial influence of the Catholic church 
has been cramped and weakened; the militia is now annihilated, and 
years must elapse ere it can be revived and used to any good purpose. — 
Lower Canada remains without municipal institutions of local self-gov- 
ernment, which are the foundations of Anglo-Saxon freedom and civili- 
zation : nor is their absence compensated by anything like the centrali- 



38 

lation of France. The most defective judicial institutions remain un. 
reformed. Alone, among the nations that have sprung from the French, 
Lower Canada remains under the unchanged civil laws of ancient France. 
Alone, among the nations of the American Continent, it is without a 
public system of education. .Nor has it, in other respects, caught the 
spirit of American progress. While' the Assembly was wasting the 
surplus revenues ot the province in jobs for the increase of patronage, 
and in petty peddling in parochial business, it left untouched those vast 
and easy means of communication which deserved, and would have re- 
paid the application of the provincial revenues. The State of New York 
made its own St. Lawrence from Lake Erie to the Hudson, while the 
government of Lower Canada could not achieve, or even attempt the few 
miles of canal and dredging which would have rendered its mighty riv- 
ers navigable almost to their sources. The time which should have been 
devoted to wise legislation was spent in a contest for power between 
the executive and the people, which a wise executive would have stop, 
ped at the outset, by submitting to a legitimate responsibility, and which 
a wise people would have ceased to press when it had virtually attained 
its end. This collision, and the defective constitution were, in conjunc 
tion with the quarrel of the races, the causes of the mischiefs which I 
have detailed. It will be a ground, I trust, of permanent congratula- 
tion, that the contest terminated in the destruction of the impracticable 
constitution, which caused the strife ; nor can I conceive any course of 
conduct which could so effectually have destroyed the previous system 
of mismanagement, and cleared the ground for future improvement, as 
that continued stoppage of supplies which the Assembly, in its intern, 
perance effected. It brake down at once the whole of that vicious ap- 
propriation of public funds which was the great bane of provincial legis. 
lation, and has left the abuses of the colony so long unfed, that a reform, 
ing government may hereafter work upon an unencumbered soil. 

The inevitable result of the animosities of race, and of the constant 
collision of the different powers of the state, which I have described, 
was a thorough disorganization of the institutions and the administrative 
system of the country. I do not think that I necessarily cast any stig. 
ma on my predecessors in Lower Canada, or on the uniform good inten- 
tions which the Imperial government has clearly evinced towards every 
class and every race in the colony, when I assert that a country which 
has been agitated by these social and political dissensions, has suffered 
under great misgovernment. The blame rests not on individuals, but on 
the vicious system, which has generated the manifold and deep-rooted 
abuses that pervade every department of the public service, and consti- 
tute the real grievances of the colony. These grievances are common to 
the whole people of Lower Canada ; and it is not one race, or one party 
only, that suffers by their existence ; they have hindered the prosperity, 
and endangered the security of all ; though, unquestionably, the inter- 
ests which have most materially been retarded by misgovernment.are the 
English- From the highest to the lowest officers of the Executive gov- 
ernment, no important department is so organized as to act vigorously 
and completely, throughout the province ; and every duty which a gov- 
ernment owes to its subjects is imperfectly discharged. 

The defective system of administration in Lower Canada, commences 
at the very source of power ; and the efficiency of the public service is 
impaired throughout by the entire want in the colony of any vigorous 
administration of the prerogative of the Crown. The fact is, that accor- 
ding to the present system, there is no real representative of the Crown, 
in the Province ; there is in it, literally, no power which originates and 
conducts the executive government. The governor, it is true, is said to 
represent the sovereign, and the authority of the Crown is, to a certain 
extent, delegated to him ; but he is, in fact, a mere subordinate officer, 
receiving his orders from the Secretary of State, responsible, to him for 
his conduct, and guided by his instructions. Instead of selecting a gov- 
ernor, with an entire confidence in his ability to use his local knowledge 
of the real state of affairs in the colony, in the manner which local ob- 



39 

nervation and practical experience best prescribe to him, it has been the? 
policy of the Colonial Department, not only at the outset, to instruct a 
governor as to the general policy which he was to carry into effect, but 
to direct him from time to time, by instructions, sometimes very precise 
as to the course which he was to pursue, in every important particular of 
his administration. Theoretically irresponsible to the Colonial Legisla- 
ture, the governor was, in effect, the only officer in the colony who was 
at all responsible ; inasmuch as the Assembly, by centering their attacks 
on him, and making him appear the sole cause of the difficulties, of the 
government, could occasion him so much vexation, and represent him in 
so unfavourable a light at home, that it frequently succeeded in imposing 
on him the necessity of resigning, or on the Colonial Minister, that of re. 
calling him. In order to shelter himself from this responsibility, it has 
inevitably, and I must say very justifiably, been the policy of governors 
to take care that the double responsibility shall be as light as possible ; to 
endeavor to throw it, as much as possible, on the home government, and 
to do as little as possible without previously consulting the Colonial Min. 
ister at home, and receiving his instructions. It has, therefore, been tho 
tendency of the local government to settle every thing by reference to 
the Colonial Department in Downing.street. Almost every question on 
which it was possible to avoid, even with great inconvenience, an imme- 
diate decision, has been habitually the subject of reference j and this ap- 
plies not merely to those questions on which the local executive and le- 
gislative bodies happened to differ, wherein the reference might be taken 
as a kind of appeal, but to questions of a strictly local nature, on which 
it was next to impossible for the colonial office to have any sufficient in. 
formation. It had been the habit of the colonial office to originate these 
questions, to entertain applications from individuals, to refer these appli. 
cations to the governor, and, on his answer, to make a decision. The 
governor has been enab'ed by this system to shift responsibility on the 
colonial office, inasmuch as in every important case he was, in reality, 
carrying into effect the order of the authority to which he was respon. 
eible. But the real vigour of the executive has been essentially impair, 
ed ; distance and delay have weakened the force of its decisions ; and 
the colony has, in every crisis of danger, and almost every detail of local 
management, felt the mischief of having its executive authority exercis. 
ed on the other side of the Atlantic. 

Nor has any thing been gained, either in effectual responsibility or 
sound information, by thus transferring the details of the executive gov- 
ernment to the Colonial Department at home. The complete and una. 
voidable ignorance in which the British public, and even the great body 
of its legislators, are with respect to the real interests of distant commu- 
nities, so entirely different from their own, produces a general indiffer- 
ence, which nothing but some great colonial crisis ever dispels ; and res- 
ponsibiity to Parliament, or to the public opinion of Great Britain, 
would, except on these great and rare occasions, be positively mischiev- 
ous, if it were not impossible. The repeated changes caused by political 
events at home having no connection with colonial affairs, have left to 
most of the various representatives of the Colonial Department in Par- 
liament too little time to acquire even an elementary knowledge of the 
condition of those numerous and heterogeneous communities for which 
they have had both to administer and legislate. The persons with whom 
the real management of these affairs has or ought to have rested have 
been the permanent but utterly irresponsible members of the office. — 
Thus the real government of the colony has been entirely dissevered 
from the slight nominal responsibility which exists. Apart even from 
this great and primary evil of the system, the pressure of multifarious bu- 
siness thus thrown on the Colonial-office, and the repeated changes of 
its ostensible directors, have produced disorders in the management of 
public business which have occasioned serious mischief, and very great 
irritation. This is not my own opinion merely ; for I do but repeat that 
of a select committee of the present House of Assembly in Upper Cana- 
da, who, in a report dated Fab. 8, 1838, say, " It appears to your com- 



40 

fmttee, that one of the chief causes of dissatisfaction with the admimt* 
tratioa of colonial affairs arises from the frequent changes in the office of 
Secretary of State, to whom the Colonial Department is intrusted. — 
Since the time the late Lord Bathurst retired from that charge, in 1827, 
your committee believe there has not been less than eight colonial min- 
isters, and that the policy of each successive statesman has been more or 
less marked by a difference from that of his predecessor. This frequen- 
cy of change in itself almost necessarily entails two evils; first an im- 
perfect knowledge of the affairs of the colonies on the part o*~ the chief 
secretary, and the consequent necessity of submitting important details 
to the subordinate officers of the department ; and, second, the want of 
stability and firmness in the general policy of the government, and which 
cf course creates much uneasiness on the part of the governors, and 
other officers of the colonies, as to what measure may be approved. 

11 But undoubtedly" (continues the report) " by far the greatest objec. 
tion to the system is, the impossibility it occasions of any colonial min- 
ister, unaided by persons possessing local knowledge, becoming acquain- 
ted with the wants, wishes, feelings, and prejudices of the inhabitants 
of the colonies during his temporary continuance in office, and of deci- 
ding satisfactorily upon the conflicting statements and claims that are 
brought before him. A firm unflinching resolution to adhere to the prin. 
ciples of the constitution, and to maintain the just and necessary powers 
of the Crown, would do much towards supplying the want of local infor- 
mation. But it Would be performing more than can be reasonably ex- 
pected from human sagacity, if any man or set of men, should always 
decide in an unexceptionable manner on subjects that have their origin 
thousands of miles from the seat of the imperial government, where 
they reside, and of which they have no personal knowledge whatever ;. 
and therefore wrong may be often done to individuals or a false view ta- 
ken of some important political question, that in the end may throw a 
whole community into difficulty and dissension, not from the absence of 
the most anxious desire to do right, but from an imperfect knowledge of 
facts upon which to form an opinion. 

" To those objections," add the report, " it may be answered, that al- 
though the Chief Secretary of State retires with a change of Ministers,, 
the Under Secretaries (or at least one of them) and the other subordinate 
officers of the department, remain and hold their offices permanently,, 
and therefore information upon all subjects can be readily imparted to 
the superior by the gentlemen who are thus retained ; and it may be ad- 
mitted that the knowledge of this fact ought to lessen the force of the 
objections that rest on other grounds ; but it cannot be disguised that 
there is a growing impatience and unwillingness on the part of the colo- 
nists, especially in these extensive provinces, to have the measures of 
government whether connected with their general system of govern- 
ment, legislation, or patronage, controlled by persons who are utter 
strangers to them, not responsible in any way to themselves or the Brit- 
ish Parliament, and who perhaps, being advanced to their office from 
length of service, or other like cause, are not regarded as competent 
(perhaps unjustly) to manage and direct measures which they (the colo- 
nists) deem of vital importance. Much of this feeling may be traced to 
pride ; but it is a pride that springs from an honorable and laudable feel- 
ing, and always accompanies self-respect, true patriotism, and love of 
country, and it therefore ought not to be disregarded, nor should any at- 
tempt be made to lessen or control it, if it were possible to do so. But 
the imperfection that exists in the system of colonial government that 
prevails in England is rendered more apparent by the want of that confi. 
dence that ought to be reposed in the distinguished officers who from 
time to time are commissioned as governors to different colonies than by 
any other fact that can be distinctly pointed out." 

1 will now only point out the instance of these evils, and I select it 
because it iB an instance occurring in relation to the most important 
function of the executive ; namely, its exercise of the legislative pre- 
rogative of the Crown, and because its existence has been admitted by 



41 

the present Secretary of State for the Colonies in his instructions to my 
predecessor, Lord Gosford — I mean the reservation of bills for the royal 
assent. The " too frequent reservation of bills" is a " grievance," says 
his lordship, " of which my inquiries lead me to believe the reality."— 
And in a subsequent part of the same despatch his lordship admits that, 
owing to this cause, great mischief has been done, by the wholly unin- 
tentional delay in giving the royal assent to some perfectly unobjection- 
able bills, having for their object the endowment of colleges by benevo- 
lent persons. This delay his lordship describes as " chiefly attributable 
to political events, and the consequent changes of the colonial adminis- 
tration at home.* I know not to what cause is to be attributed a delay, 
which produced, with respect to another bill the still more serious effect 
of a doubt of its legality, after it had been considered and acted on as 
law. This bill* was reserved ; and the royal assent was so long delayed 
through mere inadvertence, that when it was sent out to the colony as 
an act, the question was raised whether the royal assent had been delay, 
ed beyond the two years allowed by law, and whether, having been so 
delayed, it was valid. 

One of the greatest of all the evils arising from this system of irres- 
ponsible government, was the mystery in which the motives and actual 
purposes of their rulers were hid from the colonists themselves. The 
most important business of government was carried on, not in open dis- 
cussions or public acts, but in a secret correspondence between the gov- 
ernor and the secretary of state. Whenever this mystery was dispelled, 
it was long after the worst effects had been produced by doubts and mis. 
apprehension ; and the colonies have been frequently the last to learn 
the things that most concerned them by the publication of papers on the 
order of the British Houses of Parliament. 

The Governor, thus slightly responsible, and invested with functions 
■o ill. defined, found himself at the head of a system in which all his ad- 
visers and subordinates had still less responsibility, and duties still less 
defined. Disqualified fit first by want of local information, and very of- 
ten, subsequently by an entire absence of all acquaintance with the bu- 
siness of civil government, the Governor, on his arrival in the colony, 
found himself under the necessity of being, in many respects gnided by 
the persons whom he found in office. In no country, therefore could 
there be a greater necessity for a proper demarcation of the business of 
each public officer, and of a greater responsibility resting on each. Now, I 
do not at all exaggerate the real state of the case when I assert that there is 
no head of any of the most important departments of public business in 
the colony. The limited powers of the local government in a colony 
necessarily obviate thejnecessity of any provision for some of the most 
important departments which elsewhere require a superintending mind. 
But the mere ordinary administration of justice, police, education, pub. 
lie works, and internal communications, of finance and of trade, would 
require the superintendence of persons competent to advise the gover. 
nor, on their own responsibility, as to the measures which should be 
adopted ; and the additional labors which fall on the heads of such de- 
partments in other countries, in devising improvements of the system 
and the laws relating to each, would certainly afford additional occupa. 
tion, growing out of the peculiarly defective legislation and administra- 
tion of Lower Canada. Yet, of no one of these departments is there any 
responsible head, by whose advice the governor may safely be guided.— 
There are some subordinate and very capable officers in each depart, 
menf, from whom he Is, in fact, compelled to get information from time 
to time. But there is no one to whom he, or the public, can look for the 
correct management and sound decision on the policy of each of these 
important departments. 

The real advisers of the governor have, in fact, been the Executive 
Council ; and an institution more singularly calculated for preventing 

* The 9 and 10 Geo. IV., e. 77. The period began to run in Mareh, 1899, and 
the royal assent was not given till May, 1331. 

F 



42 

the responsibility of Che acts of government resting on anybody can hard- 
ly be imagined. It is a body of which the constitution somewhat re- 
sembles that of the Privy Council ; it is bound by a similar oath of se- 
crecy ; it discharges in the same manner certain anomalous judicial func- 
tions; and its "consent and advice" are required in some cases in 
which the observance of that form has been thought a requisite check on 
the exercise of particular prerogatives of the Crown. But in other res. 
pects it bears a greater resemblance to a cabinet, the governor being in the 
habit of taking its advice on most of the important questions of his policy. 
But as there is no division into departments in the Council, there is no in. 
dividual responsibility, and no individual superintendence. Each member 
of the Council takes an equal part in all the business brought before it. 
The power of removing members being very rarely exercised, the Coun- 
cil is, in fact, for the most part composed of persons placed in it long 
ago ; and the governor is obliged either to take the advice of persons in 
whom he has no confidence, or to consult only a portion of the Council. 
The secrecy of the proceedings adds to their responsibility of the body j 
and when the governor takes an important step, it is not known, or not 
authentically known, whether he has taken the advice of this Council or 
not, what members he has consulted, or by the advice of which of the 
body he has been finally guided. The responsibility of the Executive 
Council has been constantly demanded by the Reformers of Upper Ca. 
nada, and occasionally by those of the lower province. But it is really 
difficult to conceive how desirable responsibility could be attained, except 
by altering the working of this cumbrous machine, and placing the busi. 
ness of the various departments of government in the hands of compe- 
tent public officers. 

In the ordinary course of public business in the colony, almost ail 
matters come, in fact, before the Governor or his immediate assistant, 
the Civil Secretary of the province. The Civil Secretary's office is, in 
fact, the one general public office in which almost every species of busi- 
ness originates, or through which it passes in some stage or other. The 
applications which every day reach this office show the singular 
want of proper organization in the province, and the great confusion of 
ideas respecting the functions of government, generated in the minds of 
the people. A very considerable proportion consists of requests to the 
governor to interfere with the course of civil justice. Every decision of 
subordinate officers is made matter of appeal and no reference to the pro. 
per department satisfies the applicants, who imagine that they have a 
right to claim a personal investigation of every case by the Governor or 
the Civil Secretary. The appeals from the past are equally numerous ; 
and it appears to be expected that every new Governor should sit in judg- 
ment on every decision of any or all of his predecessors, which happens 
to have dissatisfied the applicant. 

* But if such is the bad organization and imperfection of the system at 
the seat of government, it may be easily believed that the remainder of 
the province enjoyed no very vigorous or complete administration. In 
fact, beyond the walls of Quebec, all regular administration of the coun. 
try appeared to cease ; and there literally was hardly a single public offi- 
cer of the civil government, except in Montreal and Three Rivers, to 
whom any order could be directed. The solicitor general commonly re- 
sides at Montreal ; and in each of the districts there is a sheriff. In the 
rest of the province there is no sheriff, no mayor, no constable, no supe. 
rior administrative officer of any kind. There are no county, no muni- 
cipal, no parochial officers, either named by the Crown, or elected by the 
people. There is a body of unpaid justices of the peace, whom I will 
describe more particularly hereafter. The officers of the militia used to 
be employed for purposes of police, as far as regarded the service of cri. 
minal warrants ; but their services were voluntary, and not very as. 
siduous ; and the whole body is now completely disorganized. In 
everj case in which any information was required by the gevernment, or 
any service was to be performed in a remote part of the province, it. was 
necessary either to send some one to the spot, or to find out by inquiry at 



43 

the seat of government, the name of some resident there whom it was 
advisable and safe to consult on the subject, or direct to do the act requir- 
ed. Id the state of parties in the country, such a step could hardly ever 
be taken, without trusting to very suspicious information, or delegating 
power to persons who would be, or be suspected of being, likely to abuse it. 

This utter want of any machinery of executive government in the pro. 
vince is not perhaps, more striking than might be observed in some of 
the most flourishing portions of the American continent. — But in the 
greater part of the states to which I refer, the want of means at the dis. 
posal of the central executive is amply supplied by the efficiency of the 
municipal institution ; and even where these are wanting, or imperfect, 
the energy and self-government habits of an Anglo Saxon population 
enable it to combine whenever a necessity arises. But the French popu- 
lation of Lower Canada possesses neither such institutions, nor such a 
character. — Accustomed to rely entirely on the govornment, it has no 
power of doing anything for itself.much less of aiding the central authority. 

The utter want of municipal institutions giving the people any con. 
troul over their local affairs, may indeed be considered as one of the main 
causes of the failure of representative government and of the bad admi- 
nistration cf the country. If the wise example of those countries iu 
which a free representative government has alone worked well, had been 
in all respects followed in Lower Canada, care would have been taken 
that, at the same time that a Parliamentary system, based on a very ex- 
tended suffrage, was introduced into the country, the people should have 
been entrusted with a complete controul over their local affairs, and been 
trained for taking their part in the concerns of the province, by their ex. 
perience in the management of their local business which was most in- 
teresting; and most easily intelligible to them. But the inhabitants of 
Lower Canada were unhappily initiated into self government at exactly 
the wrong end, and those who were not trusted with the management of 
a parish, were enabled, by their votes to influence the destinies of a state. 
During my stay in the province, I appointed a commission to inquire into 
its municipal institutions, and the practicability of introducing an effec- 
tive and free system for the management of local affairs. The gentlemen 
entrusted with this inquiry had, when they were interupted in their la. 
bours, made considerable progress towards preparing a report, which will, 
I hope, develope, in a full and satisfactory manner, the extent of the ex- 
isting evil, and the nature of the practicable remedies. 

There never has been, in fact any institution in Lower Canada, in 
which any portion of the French population have been brought together 
for any administrative purpose, nor is there among the divisions of the 
country any one which has been constituted with a view of such an end. 
The larger divisions, called "districts," are purely iudicial divisions. The 
counties may be called merely parliamentary divisions; for I know of 
no purposes for which they appear to have been constituted, except for 
the election of members for the House of Assembly ; and during the pre. 
sent suspension of representative government, they are merely arbitrary 
and useless geographical divisions. There are no hundreds, or corres- 
ponding sub.divisions of counties. The parishes are purely ecclesiastical 
divisions, and may be altered by the Catholic bishops. The only institu- 
tion in the nature of local management, in which the people have any 
voice, is in the fabrique by which provision is made for the repairs of the 
Catholic churches. 

The townships are inhabited entirely by a population of British and 
American origin ; and may be said to be divisions established for survey- 
ing rather than other purposes. The eastern townships present a lamen- 
table contrast in the management of all local matters to the bordering; 
state of Vermont, in which the municipal institutions are the most com. 
plete, it is said, of any part even of New England. In any new settled 
district of New England, a small number of families settling within a 
certain distance of each other, are immediately empowered by law to as. 
eess themselves for local purposes, and to elect local officers. The sett- 
lers in the eastern townships, many of whom are natives of New Kng- 



44 

land, and all of whom can contrast the state of things on their own with 
that which is to be Seen on the other side of the line, have a serious and 
general cause of discontent in the very inferior management of all their 
own local concerns. The government appears even to have discouraged 
the American settlers from introducing their own municipal institutions 
by common assent. " I understood." said Mr. Richards, in a Report to 
the Secretary of State of the Colonies, ordered by the House of Commons 
to be printed in March, 1832, " that the Vermonters had crossed the line, 
and partially occupied several townships, bringing with them their own 
municipal customs; and that when the impropriety of electing their own 
officers was pointed out to them, they had quickly given them up and 
promised to conform to those of Canada." 

But the want of municipal institutions has been and is most glaringly 
remarkable in Quebec and Montreal. These cities were incorporated a 
few years ago by a temporary provincial act, of which the renewal was 
rejected in 1836. Since that time these cities have been without any 
municipal government ; and the disgraceful state of the streets, and the 
utter absence of lighting, are consequences which arrest the attention of 
all, and seriously affect the comfort and security of the inhabitants. 

The worst effects of this most faulty system of general adminstra. 
tion will be developed in the view which I shall hereafter give of the 
practices adopted with respect to the public lands, and the settlement of 
the Province, but which I postpone for the present because I purpose 
considering this subject with reference to all the North American Pro- 
vinces. — But I must here notice the mischievous results prominently ex. 
hibited in the provision which the government of Lower Canada makes 
for the first want of a people, the efficient administration of justice. 

The law of the province and the administration of justice are, in fact, 
a patch work of the results of the interference at different times of dif- 
ferent legislative powers, each proceeding on utterly different and gene, 
rally incomplete views, and each utterly regardless of the other. The 
law itself is a mass of incoherent and conflicting laws v part French and 
part English, and with the line between each very confusedly drawn. — 
Thus, the criminal law is the criminal law of England, as it was intro- 
duced in 1774, with such modifications as have since been made by the 
provincial Legislature, it being now disputed whether the provincial le- 
gislature, had any power to make any change whatever in that law, and 
it not being all clear what is the extent of the phrase •■ criminal law." — 
The civil law is the aneient civil law, also modified in some, but unfor- 
tunately very few, respects ; and these modifications have been almost 
exclusively effected by acts of the British Parliament and by ordinances 
of the Governor and Council constituted under the Quebec Act. The 
French law of evidence prevails in all civil matters, with a special ex. 
ception of" commercial" cases, in which it is provided that the English 
law is to be adopted ; but no two lawyers agree in their definition of 
*« commercial." 

•" For judicial purposes the province is divided into four superior dis- 
tricts, having unlimited and supreme original jurisdiction, and one infe- 
rior with limited jurisdiction. The four superior are those of Quebec and 
Montreal, Three Rivers and St. Francis ; the inferior that of Gasped 

The district of Gasp^ is subordinate to that of Quebec, with some spe- 
cial provisions for the administration of justice within it under a parti- 
cular Provincial Act, which expires next May. I could obtain no very 
satisfactory imformation respecting this district, except that every body 
appeared to be of opinion that, from its distance and scanty population, 
it had always met with very little attention from either the legislature or 
the executive government. About the administration of justice therein I 
could hardly obtain any information ; indeed, on one occasion, it being 
necessary, for some particular purpose, to ascertain the fact, inquiry 
was made at all the public offices in Quebec, whether or not there was any 
coroner of Gaspe. It was a long time before any information could be 
got on this point, and it was at last in some measure cleared up, by 
the Accountant. General discovering an estimate for the salary of such 



45 

an officer. The only positive information, therefore, that I can give re. 
specting the present administration of justice in Gaspe is, that I received 
a petition from the inhabitants praying that the act by which it is regula. 
ted might not be renewed. 

Each of the courts of Quebec and Montreal has a chief justice and 
three puisne judges ; there is but one judge in each of the districts of 
Three Rivers and St. Francis. During term time judges from other dis- 
tricts make up the bench in these two. 

In all civil cases these courts have original jurisdiction to an unlimited 
amount ; and in spite cf the immense extent of all, but particularly of 
the two great districts, the parties are in almost all cases brought up to 
the chief towns for the trial of their causes. 

An attempt, but of a very trifling and abortive character, has been 
made to introduce the English system of circuits. The judges of these 
districts make circuits once a year, in order to try causes in which the 
disputed value is not more than £10 sterling. The limitation of the val- 
ue, the introduction of small debt courts, and the consequent failure of 
attendance on the part of a bar during their progress, and the very in- 
sufficient time allotted for the stay at each place, have, I am informed, 
rendered these circuits almost useless ; and even the suits which might be 
tried at the circuits are generally in preference carried up for trial to the 
chief places of these districts. 

There are some complaints that excessive fees are taken in the courts 
of Montreal and Quebec. The distribution of legal patronage is a mat- 
ter of great it is not easy to say, of how just, complaint ; but the sub- 
stantial evil of the administration of civil justice consists in the practical 
denial of it caused by the utter inefficiency of the circuit system, and the 
enormous expense and delay of carrying every suit, where the value in 
dispute is more than £10 sterling, from the extremities of the three large 
and settled districts of the province to the three district towns ; in the 
vicious constitution of the inf«rior tribunals by which it has been attemp- 
ted to supply the want of an effective system, either of circuits or of local 
courts ; and in the very faulty nature of the supreme appellate jurisdic- 
tion of the province. 

The minor litigation of the country is, in fact, carried on throughout 
these three districts in the courts of the commissioners of small causes. 
These courts are established in the different parishes by the Governor* 
on an application made by a certain number of the parishioners, according 
to forms prescribed by the provincial statute, in which this institution 
takes its rise, and have jurisdiction overall debts not exceeding twenty, 
five dollars, equal to £6 5s. currency. The commissioners are appoint- 
ed by the Governor, upon the recommendation of the petitioners 5 these 
are residents in the parish, and almost wholly unversed in law. The 
constitution of these courts, is in fact, nothing else in substance but an 
elective judiciary, elected under most irregular, fraudulent and absurd 
electoral system that could possibly be devised. 1 cannot better illus. 
trate this description, than by narrating simply the mode in which the ap- 
pointment is, in fact, made. It is, and has for a long time been, left 
almost entirely in the hands of a subordinate assistant in the Civil Se- 
cretary's office. This gentleman stated that be took no steps and in- 
deed by law he could not, until he received a petition, with the requisite 
number of names attached. His impression was, that these signatures 
were generally obtained by assiduous canvassing in the parish, generally 
on the part of some person who wanted the appointment of clerk, which 
is paid, and who took his trouble, in order to secure the nomination of com. 
missioners, from whom he expected to get the appointment. After some 
inquiry from any person whom this assistant secretary thought proper to 
consult respecting the characters of the persons proposed, they were, al- 
most as a matter of course, appointed. After a short time, if some other 
person in the district happened to acquire more popularity, and to covet 
the office, a petition was got up, containing charges against the occu. 
pint of tbe office, and praying for his removal, and the substitution of 
foil rival. -Upon most of the appointments, also, there arose long con- 



46 

troversies respecting the politioa, qualification, and character of the can- 
didate for office ; and a removal or new appointment was always attribu- 
ted to some political causes by the newspapers of each party or race. — 
The inquiry into the qualification of persons proposed, the investigation 
of the charges made, the defence urged in reply, and the distant and 
unsatisfactory evidence adduced in support of each, formed a large pro- 
portion of the business of the Civil Secretary's office. Whatever ap- 
pointment was made, the government was 6ure to create dissatisfaction ; 
and the administration of justice was left in the hands of incompetent 
men, whose appointment had been made in such a manner, as even 
sometimes, to render their integrity suspicious in the eyes, not only of 
those who had opposed, but also of those who had supported, their no- 
mination. I shall only add, that some time previous to my leaving the 
province, I was very warmly and forcibly urged, by the highest legal 
authorities in the country, to abolish all these tribunals at once, on the 
ground that a great many of them, being composed entirely of disaffected 
French Canadians, were busily occupied in harrassing loyal subjects, by 
entertaining actions against them, on account of the part they had taken 
in the late insurrection. There is no appeal from their decision ; and it 
was stated that they had, in the most barefaced manner, given damages 
against loyal persons for acts done in discharge of their duty, and judg- 
ments by default against persons who were absent as Volunteers in the 
service of the Queen, and enforced their judgment by levying distresses 
on their property. 

I must now turn from the lowest to the highest civil tribunal of the 
province. In a country in which the administration of justice is so im- 
perfect in all the inferior stages, and in which two different and often 
conflicting systems of law are administered by judges whose professional 
education and origin necessarily cause different leanings in favour of the 
respective systems in which each is more particularly versed, the exist, 
ence of a good and available appellate jurisdiction, which may keep the 
law uniform and certain, is matter of much greater importance than in 
those countries in which the law is homogeneous, and its administration 
by the subordinate tribunals is satisfactory. But the appellate jurisdic- 
tion of Lower Canada is vested in the Executive Council — a body estab. 
lished simply for political purposes, and composed of persons in great 
part having no legal qualifications whatsoever. The Executive Council 
sits as a court of appeal four times in the year, and for the space of ten 
days during each session ; on these occasions the two chief justices of 
Quebec and Montreal were ex-officio, presidents, and each in turn pre- 
sided when appeais from the other's district were heard. The laymen 
who were present to make up the necessary quorum of five, as a matter 
of course, left the whole matter to the presiding chief justice, except in 
some instances, in which party feelings or pecuniary interests are as- 
serted to have induced the unprofessional members to attend in unusual 
numbers, to disregard the authority of the chief justice, and to pervert 
the law. In the general run of cases, therefore, the decision was left to 
the President alone, and each chief justice became, in consequence, the 
real judge of appeal from the whole court of the other district. It is a 
matter of perfect and undisputed notoriety, that this system has produc- 
ed the results which ought to have been foreseen as inevitable ; and that, 
for some time before I arrived in the province, the two chief justices had 
constantly differed in opinion upon some most important points, and had 
been in the habit of generally reversing each other's judgments. Not 
only, therefore, was the law uncertain and different in the two districts, 
but, owing to the ultimate power of the Court of Appeal, that which 
was the real law of each district was that which was held not to be law 
by the judges of that district. This is not merely an inference of my 
own ; it is very clear that it was the general opinion of the profession 
and the public. The Court of Appeal, as re-modelled by me, at the only 
sitting which it held, reversed all but one of the judgments brought be- 
fore it. This induced a member of the court to remark to one of the 
thief justices, that so general a reversal of the law of a very competent 



47 

court below, by a tribunal so competent as the Court of Appeals thea 
was, appeared to him utterly inexplicable, inasmuch as it could in no. 
wise be attributed, as it was before, to the influence of a single judge. — 
The reply of the chief justice was, that the matter was easily accounted 
for, that the system previously adopted in the Court of Appeals had ren- 
dered the decision of the court below so complete a nullity, that the par- 
ties and counsel below often would not take the trouble to enter into the 
real merits of their case, and that the real hearing and law of the case 
were, generally, most fully stated before the Court of Appeals. 

As the business of the Court of Appeals was thus of great extent and 
importance, it became necessary that, having from political considera. 
tions altered the composition of the Executive Council, I should re-or- 
ganize the Court of Appeals. I determined to do this upon the best 
principle that I could carry into effect under the circumstances of the 
case ; for, as the constitution of the Court of Appeals is prescribed by 
the Constitutional Act, I could not vest the appellate jurisdiction in any 
other body than the Executive Council. I called, therefore, to the Ex* 
ecutive Council the chief justice and one puisne judge from each of the 
two districts of Quebec and Montreal, and by summoning also the judge 
of Three Rivers, I gave the members of the two conflicting tribunals an 
impartial arbiter, in the person of M. Vallieres de St. Real, admitted by 
universal consent to be the ablest French lawyer in the province. But 
the regulations of the Executive Council, which it was supposed 1 could 
not alter in this case, required the presence of a quorum of five ; and as 
no judge could sit on an appeal from his own court, I had now only pro- 
vided three for every appeal from the two greater districts. In order to 
make up the quorum, the court was therefore attended by two other exe- 
cutive councillors, one of whom, by his thorough knowledge of commer- 
cial law, and his general legal experience, was commonly admitted to 
have rendered essential service. I believe I may confidently say that the 
decisions of the court carried far greater weight than those of any previ- 
ous court of appeals. 

The further appeal to the Privy Council, allowed in cases where the 
value was above £'500, is, from the great delay and great expense atten- 
dant on it, hardly ever resorted to. The establishment of a good appel- 
late jurisdiction for the whole of the North American colonies is there- 
fore greatly desired by every province ; and a competent tribunal for this 
purpose would spare the cost and delay of a resort to the Privy Council, 
and answer all the purposes proposed to be attained by the present double 
system of appeal. 

The evils of the system of criminal justice are not so various, but from 
the faulty judicial division and administrative system of the province, the 
defects which exist in the constitution of the courts of justice are even 
more severely felt in this department; for, except at the principal towns 
of the five districts, there is not the slightest provision for criminal jus- 
tice, and to these places all prisoners must be brought for trial from the 
most remote parts, subject to their jurisdiction. Thus, from the extreme 
settlements on the Ottawa, where is now the great seat of the lumber 
trade, and of the large and wild population which it brings together, all 
prisoners have to be carried to a distance of two hundred miles, by bad 
and uncertain means of conveyance, to Montreal for trial. On the left 
bank of the Ottawa the law has, according to high legal authority, no 
power. It was but lately that a violent mob, called Shiners, for a long 
time set the law at defiance, and had entirely at their mercy the large 
properties invested in that part of the country. 

Besides those in the five places above mentioned, there are only three 
county gaols, one of which is in the district of Gaspe. There are no 
sessions held in any other than those places. At the Quebec, Montreal 
and Three Rivers quarter sessions there were, some years ago, profes- 
sional and salaried chairmen, but the Assembly discontinued them. There 
are sheriffs only in the districts, and not in each county. They are 
named by the crown for life, and are removable at pleasure. The offices 
are y^iy lucrative, and are said to have been frequently disposed of from 



personal or political favouritism. It ia also a matter of complaint, that 
insufficient security has been taken from those appointed to them ; and 
many individuals have consequently sustained very serious loss from the 
defalcation of sheriffs. 

But the most serious mischief in the administration of criminal justice, 
arises from the entire perversion of the institution of juries, by the poli- 
tical and national prejudices of the people. The trial by jury was intro- 
duced with the rest of the English criminal law. For a long time the 
composition of both grand and petit juries were settled by the governor, 
and they were at first taken from the cities, which were the chefs lieux 
of the district. Complaints were made that this gave an undue prepon- 
derance to the British in those cities; though, from the proportions of 
the population, it is not very obvious how they could thereby obtain more 
than an equal share. In consequence, however, of these complaints, an 
order was issued under 'he government of Sir James Kempt, directing the 
sheriffs to take the juries not only from the cities, but from the adjacent 
country, for fifteen leagues in every direction. An act was subsequently 
passed, commonly called " Mr. Viger's Jury Act," extending these limits 
to those of the district. The principle of taking the jury from the whole 
district, to which the jurisdiction of the court extended, is undoubtedly in 
conformity with the principles of English law ; and Mr. Viger's Act, 
adopting the other regulations of the English jury law , provided a fair 
selection of juries. But if we consider the hostility and proportions of the 
two races, the practical effect of this law was to give the French an entire 
preponderance in the juries. This act was one of the temporary acts of 
the Assembly, and having expired in 1836, the Legislative Council refu- 
sed to renew it. Since that period there has been no jury law whatever. 
The composition of the juries has been altogether in the hands of the 
government ; private instructions, however, have been given to the sheriff 
to act in conformity with Sir James Kempt's ordinance ; but though he 
has always done so, the public have had no security for any fairness in 
the selection of the juries. There was no visible check on the sheriff ; the 
public knew that he could pack a jury whenever he pleased, and suppos- 
ed, as a matter of course, that an officer holding a lucrative appointment 
at the pleasure of government would be ready to carry into effect those 
unfair designs which they were always ready to attribute to the govern, 
ment. When I arrived in the Province the public was expecting the 
trials of the persons accused of participation in the late insurrection. I 
was on the one hand informed by the law officers of the Crown and the 
highest judicial authorities, that not the slighest chance existed under 
any fair system of getting a jury that would convict any of these men, 
however clear the evidence of their guilt might be ; and on the other 
side 1 was given to understand that the prisoners and their friends sup. 
posed that, as a matter of course, they would be tried by packed juries, 
and that even the most clearly innocent of them would be convicted. 

It is indeed a lamentable fact, which must not be concealed, that there 
does not exist in the minds of the people of this province the slightest 
confidence in the administration of criminal justice ; nor were the com. 
plaints, or the apparent grounds for them, confined to one party. 

The French complain that the institution of both grand and petit juries 
have been repeatedly tampered with against them. They complain that 
when it has suited the interests of the government to protect persons 
guilty of gross offences against the French party, they have attained their 
end by packing the grand jury. Great excitement has long existed among 
the French party in consequence of a riot which took place at the election 
for the West Ward of Montreal, in May, 1832, on which occasion the 
troops were called out, fired on the people, and killed three of them. An 
indictment was preferred against the magistrates and officers who ordered 
the troops to fire. It was urged by the French that the grand jury was 
composed almost entirely of Englishmen, that twelve out of the twenty- 
three were taken from the parish of Lachine, the smallest in the whole 
island : a selection which, they said, could hardly be attributed to mere 
chance, and that they were not in the usual station in life of grand jurymen. 



49 

The opposite party, it must be observed, however, argued that this 
apparent selection of a majority of the grand jury from a single parish 
was a necessary result of some ill-contrived provision of Mr. Vigor's Jury 
Act. The bill was thrown out, and all judicial investigation into the 
circumstances consequently quashed. I am merely mentioning the com- 
plaints of parties. I know not whether the preceding allegations were 
well founded, but there can be no doubt that such was the impression 
produced among the French Canadians by these proceedings, which, in 
their minds, completely destroyed all confidence in the administration of 
justice. 

The French Canadians further complain that the favorable decision of 
a grand jury was of no avail to those who had fallen under the displea- 
sure of the government. There are several instances in the recent his- 
tory of Lower Canada, in which an attorney-general, being dissatisfied 
with the conduct of the grand jury in ignoring a bill, either repeatedly 
preferred indictments for the same offence, until he obtained a grand 
jury which would find them, or filed ex officio informations. 

Nor are the complaints of the English popula'ion of a less serious na- 
ture. They assert, unhappily on too undispulable grounds, that the 
Canadian grand and petit juries have invariably used their power to in- 
sure impunity to such of their countrymen as had been guilty of political 
offences. The case of Chartrand is not the only one in which it is gen- 
erally believed that this has been done. The murderers of an Irish pri- 
vate soldier of the 24th Regiment, of the name of Hands, are asserted to 
have been saved by an equally gross violation of their oaths on the part 
of the jury. A respectable and intelligent member of the grand jury 
which sat at Montreal, in October, 1837, informed the government that 
nothing could be more proper than the behaviour of a great majority of 
the jurymen, who were French Canadians, vyjiile they were occupied 
with cases not connected with politics. They attended patiently to the 
evidence, and showed themselves well disposed to follow the opinion of 
the foreman, who was a magistrate of great competence ; but it was ad- 
ded, that the instant they came to a political case, all regard for even 
the appearance of impartiality vanished, and they threw out the bills by 
acclamation, without listening to the remonstrances of the foreman. 

The trial by jury is therefore at the present moment not only produc- 
tive in Lower Canada of no confidence in the honest administration of 
the laws, but also provides impunity for every political offence. 

I cannot close this account of the system of criminal justice without 
making some remarks with respect to the body by which it is adminis- 
tered in its primary stages and minor details to the great mass of the peo- 
ple of the province. I mean the magistracy ; and I cannot but express 
my regret, that among the few institutions for the administration of jus- 
tice throughout the country which have been adopted in Lower Canada 
from those of England should be that of unpaid justices of the peace. — 
I do not mean in any way to disparage the character, or depreciate the 
usefulness of that most respectable body in this country. But the warm. 
est admirer of that institution must admit that its benefits result entirely 
from the peculiar character of the class from which our magistracy is se- 
lected ; and that without the general education, the moral responsibility 
imposed by their high station in the eyes of their countrymen, the check 
exercised by the opinion of their own class, and of an intelligent and vi- 
gilant public, and the habits of public business, which almost every En- 
glishman more or less acquires ; even the country gentlemen of England 
could not wield their legally irresponsible power as justices of the peace 
to the satisfaction of their countrymen. What, then, must be conceived 
of the working of this institution in a colony by a class over whom none 
of these checks exist, and whose station in life and education would 
alone almost universally exclude them from a similar office at home ? — 
When we transplant the institutions of England into our colonies, wo 
ought at least to take care beforehand that the social state of the colony 
should possess these peculiar materials on which alone the excellence of 
those institutions depends in the mother country. The body of jus. 

G 



50 

tices of the peace scattered over the whole of Lower Canada are named 
by the governor, on no very accurate local information, there being no 
lieutenants or similar officers of counties in this, as in the Upper Prov- 
ince. The real property qualification required for the magistracy is so 
low, that in the country parts almost every one possesses it ; and it only 
excludes some of the most respectable persons in the cities. In the rural 
districts the magistrates have no clerks. The institution has become un- 
popular among the Canadians, owing to their general belief that the ap- 
pointments have been made with a party and national bias. It cannot 
be denied that many most respectable Canadians were long left out of the 
commission of the peace, without any adequate cause ; and it is still 
more undeniable, that most disreputable persons of both races have found 
their way into it, and still continue to abuse the power thus vested in 
them. Instances of indiscretion, of ignorance, and of party feeling, and 
accusations of venality, have been often adduced by each party. Wheth- 
er these representations be exaggerated or not, or whether they apply to 
a small or to a large portion of the magistracy, it is undeniable that the 
greatest want of confidence in the practical working of the institution 
exists ; and I am therefore of opinion that, whilst this state of society 
continues, and, above all, in the present exasperation of parties, small 
stipendiary magistracy would be much better suited to both Upper and 
Lower Canada. 

The police of the province has always been lamentably defective. No 
city, from the lawless and vicious character of a great part of its popu- 
lation, requires a more vigilant police than Quebec. Until May, 1836, 
the police of this city was regulated by an act which then expired, and 
was not renewed, and it consisted of forty.eight watchmen, half of 
whom served every night for the whole town. The day police consisted 
of six constables, who were under no efficient control. On the expira- 
tion of this act there was no night police at all, and murders occurring in 
the streets, the inhabitants formed a voluntary patrol for the upper town. 
Lord Gosford, in December, 1837, appointed Mr. Young inspector of po. 
lice, with eight policemen under him ; a sergeant and eight men of the 
Volunteer Seaman's Company were placed under his order ; and another 
magistrate had a corporal and twelve men of the same company for the 
police of the lower town. Finding their force wholly insufficient, re- 
ceiving daily complaints, and witnessing daily instances of disorder and 
neglect, and above all being much pressed to inorease the police by the 
owners of vessels, who had no power of restraining the desertion of their 
crews, I ordered a regular police of thirty-two men to be organized on 
the plan of the London police in June last. This body was further aug- 
mented in October to seventy-five ; and this number is represented to me 
by the inspector as by no means more than sufficient. 

In Montreal, where no approach to a general system of police had 
been made, I directed Mr. Leclere, who had been appointed a stipendiary 
magistrate by Lord Gosford, to organize a force similar to that of Que- 
bec The number of this is now carried, I think, as high as 100. 

Throughout the rest of the province, where the functions of a police 
used to be discharged by the militia, that body being now disorganized, 
there is, in fact, no police at all. In the course of the autumn, I was 
informed by Mr. Young, that at St. Catherine's, forty-six miles from 
Quebec, a man, after notoriously committing an assault with an intent 
to murder, was still at large a fortnight after the act; and that no means 
had been found of executing a warrant issued against him by a county 
magistrate. As the only means of enforcing the law, Mr. Young was 
authorized to send policemen, sworn in as special constables, the place 
being out of his jurisdiction ; and by them the arrest was effected. — 
When Theller and Dodge escaped from the citadel, and were supposed 
to have taken the direction of the Kennebec road, no means existed of 
stopping their flight, except by sending the police of Quebec to the very 
frontier of the United Slates. 

As there was no rural police, the same step had been taken in the case 
of a deserter. 



51 

In the course of the preceding account, I have already incidentally 
given a good many of the most important details of the provision for 
education made in Lower Canada. I have described the general igno- 
rance of the people* and the abortive attempt which was made, or rather 
which was professed to be made, for the purpose of establishing a gene- 
ral system of public instruction; I have described the singular abundance 
of a somewhat defective education which exists for the higher classes, 
and which is solely in the hands of the Catholic priesthood. It only re- 
mains that I should add, though the adults who have come from the 
old country are generally more or less educated, the English are hardly 
better off than the French for the means of education for their children, 
and indeed possess scarcely any except in the cities* 

There exists at present no means of college education for Protestants 
in the Province ; and the desire of obtaining general, and still more pro- 
fessional, instruction, yearly draws a great many young men into the 
United States. 

I can, indeed, add little to the general information possessed by the 
government respecting the great deficiency of instruction, and of the 
means of education in this province. The commissioner whom I ap- 
pointed to inquire into the state of education in the province endeavor- 
ed very properly to make inquiries so minute and ample, that the real 
state of things should be laid fully open ; and with this view he had with 
great labour prepared a series of questions, which he had transmitted to 
various persons in every parish. At the time when his labours were 
brought to a close, together with mine, he had received very few an- 
swers ; but it was desirable that the information which he had thus pre- 
pared the means of obtaining should not be lost, a competent person has 
been engaged to receive and digest the returns. Complete information 
respecting the state of education, and of the result of past attempts to 
instruct the people, will thus, before long, bo laid before the Govern- 
ment. 

The inquiries of the commissioner were calculated to inspire but slen- 
der hopes of the immediate practicability of any attempt to establish a 
general and sound system of education for the province. Not that the 
people themselves are different or opposed to such a scheme. I was 
rejoiced to find that there existed among the French population a very 
general and deep sense of their own deficiencies in this respect, and a 
great desire to provide means for giving their children those advantages 
which had been denied to themselves. Among the English the same de- 
sire was equally felt ; and I believe that the population of either origin 
would be willing to submit to local assessments for this purpose. 

The inhabitants of the North American Continent, possessing an 
amount of material comfort, unknown to the peasantry of any other 
part of the world, are generally very sensible to the importance of educa- 
tion. And the noble provision which every one of the northern states 
of the Union has gloried in establishing for the education of its youth, 
has excited a general spirit of emulation amongst the neighbouring pro- 
vinces, and a desire, which will probably produce some active efforts, to 
improve their own educational institutions. 

It, is therefore, much to be regretted, that there appear to exist obsta- 
cles to the establishment of such a general system of instruction as 
would supply the wants, and, I believe, meet the wishes of the entire po- 
pulation. Ihe Catholic clergy, to whose exertions the French and Irish 
population are indebted for whatever means of education they have ever 
possessed, appear to be very unwilling that the state should in any way 
take the instruction of youth out of their hands. Nor do the clergy of 
some other denominations exhibit generally a less desire to give to edu- 
cation a sectarian character, which would be peculiarly mischievous in 
this province, inasmuch as its inevitable effect would be to aggravate and 
perpetuate the existing distinctions of origin. But as the laity of every 
denomination appear to be opposed to these narrow views, I feel confi- 
dent that the establishment of a strong popular government in this pro. 



52 

vince would very soon lead to the introduction of a liberal and general 
system of public education. 

I am grieved to be obliged to remark, that the British Government has, 
since its possession of this province, done, or even attempted, nothing 
for the promotion of general education. Indeed the only matter in which 
it has appeared in connection with the subject, is one by no means credU 
table to it. For it has applied the Jesuits' estates, part of the property 
destined for purposes of education, to supply a species of fund for secret 
service, and for a number of years it has maintained an obstinate strug- 
gle with the Assembly in order to continue this misappropriation. 

Under the head of the hospitals, Prisons, and Charitable Institutions of 
Lower Canada, I beg to refer to some valuable information collected, by 
my direction, by Sir John Doratt, during the exercise of his office of In- 
spector-general of Hospitals and Charitable and Literary Institutions, 
which will be found in a separate part of the appendix to this report. I 
regret that the pressure of more urgent subjects did not allow me time 
to institute into these subjects so searching and comprehensive an inqui- 
ry as 1 should have desired to make in other circumstances. But there 
are some points brought under my notice by Sir John Doratt, to which I 
think it important that the attention of your Majesty's government 
should be directed without delay. I advert to the existing want of any 
public establishment for the reception of insane persons either in Lower 
or Upper Canada; to the bad state of the prisons in general, and especi. 
ally the disgraceful condition of the gaol of the city of Quebec ; to the 
defects of the quarantine station at Grosse Isle ; to the low and igno- 
rant state of the medical profession throughout the rural districts ; and 
to the necessity of a change in the system of providing for the insane, 
the invalid poor and foundlings, by payments of public moneys to con- 
vents for that purpose. It is evident that considerable abuses exist in 
the management of several philanthrophic institutions. I have adver- 
ted, in another part of my report, to the subject of pauperism, as connec- 
ted with emigration ; and the evidence there cited is in some respects 
confirmed by the information communicated by Sir John Doratt. 

It is a subject of very just congratulation, that religious differences 
have hardly operated as an additional cause of dissension in Lower Cana- 
da ; and that a degree of practical toleration, known in very few com- 
munities has existed in this colony from the period of the conquest down 
to the present time. 

The French Canadians are exclusively Catholic, and their church has 
been left in the possession of the endowments which it had at the con- 
quest. The right to tithe is enjoyed by their priests; but as it is li- 
mited by law to lands of which the proprietor is a Catholic, the priest 
loses his tithe the moment that an estate passes, by sale, or otherwise, 
into the hands of a Protestant. This enactment which is at variance 
with the true spirit of national endowments for religious purposes, has a 
natural tendency to render the clergy averse to the settlement of Pro- 
testants in the seigniories. But the Catholic priesthood of this province 
have, to a very remarkable degree, conciliated the good will of persons 
of all creeds; and I know of no parochial clergy in the world whose 
practice of all the Christian virtues, and zealous discharge of their cleri- 
cal duties, is more universally admitted, and has been productive of more 
beneficial consequences. Possessed of incomes sufficient, and even large, 
according to the notions entertained in the country, and enjoying 
the advantage of education, they have lived on terms of equality and 
kindness villi the humblest and least instructed inhabitants of the rural 
districts. Intimately acquainted with the wants and characters of their 
neighbours, they have been the promoters and dispensers of charity, and 
the effectual guardians of the morals of the people ; and in the general 
absence of any permanent institutions of civil government, the Catholic 
church has presented almost the only semblance of stability and organi- 
zation, and furnished the only effectual support for civilization and order. 
The Catholic clergy of Lower Canada are entitled to this expression of 



my esteem, not only because it is founded on truth, but because a great, 
ful recognition of their eminent services, in resisting the arts of the dis- 
affected, is especially due to them from one who has administered the 
government of the province in these troubled times. 

The Constitutional Act, while limiting the application of the Clergy 
Reserves in the townships to a Protestant clergy, made no provision for 
the extension of the Catholic Clerical institution, in the event of the 
French population settling beyond the limits of the seignories. Though 
I believe that some power exists, and has been in a few cases used, for 
the creation of new Catholic parishes, I am convinced that this absence 
of the means of religious instruction has been the main cause of the in* 
disposition of the French population to seek new settlements, as the in- 
crease of their numbers pressed upon their resources. It has been rightly 
observed that the religious observances of the French Canadians are so 
intermingled with all their business and all their amusements, that the 
priest and the church are with them, more than any other people, the 
centres of their little communities. In order to encourage them to spread 
their population, and to seek for comfort and prosperity in new settle. 
ments, a wise government would have taken care to aid, in every possi- 
ble way, the diffusion of their means of religious instruction. 

The Protestant population of Lower Canada have been of late some- 
what agitated by the question of the clersy reserves. The meaning of 
the ambiguous phrase " Protestant clergy" has been discussed with great 
ardour in various quarters ; and each disputant has displayed his inge. 
nuity in finding reasons for a definition in accordance with his own in- 
clination, either to the aggrandizement of his own sect, or the e stablish- 
ment of religious equality. Owing to the small numbers of the British 
population, to the endowment of the Catholic Church in most of the 
peopled and important districts of the colony, and, above all, to the much 
more formidable and extensive causes of dissension existing in the pro- 
vince, the dispute of the various Protestant denominations for the funds 
reserved for a " Protestant clergy," has not assumed the importance which 
it has acquired in Upper Canada. In my account of that province I shall 
give a more detailed explanation of the present position oi this much-dis- 
puted question. I have reason to know, that the apprehension of mea- 
sures tending to establish the predominance of a particular creed and 
clergy, has produced an irritation in this Province which has very nearly 
deprived the Crown of the support of some portions ot the British popu- 
lation, in a period of very imminent danger. I must, therefore, most 
strongly recommend, that any plan by which the question of clergy re- 
serves shall be set at rest in Upper Canada, should also be extended to the 
Lower Province. The endowments of the Catholic church, and the ser- 
vices of its numerous and zealous parochial clergy, have been of the 
greatest benefit to the large body of Catholic emigrants from Ireland, 
who have relied much on the charitable as well as religious aid which 
they have received from the priesthood. The priests have an almost un- 
limited influence over the lower classes of Irish ; and this influence is 
said to have been vigorously exerted last winter, when it was much need- 
ed, to secure the loyalty of a portion of the Irish during the troubles. — 
The general loyalty exhibited by the Irish settlers in the Canadas during 
the last winter, and the importance of maintaining it unimpaired in fu- 
ture times of difficulty, render it of the utmost moment that the feelings 
and interests of the Catholic clergy and population should invariably meet 
with due consideration from the government. 

Setting on one side the management of the Crown Lands, and the re- 
venue derived therefrom, which will be treated of fully in another part, 
it is not necessary that I should on the present occasion, enter into any 
detailed account of the financial system of Lower Canada, my object be- 
ing merely to point out the working of the general system of govern- 
ment, as operating to produce the present condition of the Province. I 
need not inquire whether its fiscal, monetary, or commercial arrange- 
ments have been in accordance with the best principles of public eco- 



54 

homy. But I have reason to behove that improvements may be made ir? 
the mode of raising and expending the provincial revenue. During my 
stay in Canada, the evils of the banking and monetary systems of the 
province forced themselves on my attention I am not inclined, how- 
ever, to regard these evils as having been in anywise influential in caus- 
ing the late disorders. I cannot regard them as indicative of any more 
mismanagement or error than are observable in the measures of the best 
governments with respect to questions of so much difficulty ; and though 
the importance of finding somo sufficient remedy for some of these dis- 
orders has, as I shall hereafter explain, very materially influenced my 
views, of the general plan to be adopted for the government of this and 
the other North American Colonies, I regard the better regulation of the 
financial and monetary systems of the Province as a matter to be settled 
by the local government, when established on a permanent basis. 

With the exception of the small amount now derived from the casual 
and territorial funds, the public revenue of Lower Canada is derived from 
duties imposed, partly by Imperial and partly by Provincial statutes. — 
These duties are, in great proportion, levied upon articles imported into 
the Colony from Great Britain and foreign countries ; they are collected 
at the principal ports by officers of the impeiial customs. 

The amount of the revenue has within the last four years diminished 
from about £150,000 to little more than £100,000 per annum. This di- 
minution is ascribed principally to the decreased consumption of spiritu- 
ous liquors, and some other articles of foreign import, in consequence of 
the growth of native manufactures of such articles. Nevertheless, as 
the permanent expenditure of the civil government only amounts to about 
£60,000 a year, there remains still a considerable surplus to be disposed 
of for local purposes, in the mischievous manner which I have described 
in the preceding pages. A vigorous and efficient government would find 
the wholo revenue hardly adequate to its necessities; but in the present 
state of things, I consider the existence and application of this surplus 
revenue as so prejudicial, that I should, as the less of two evils, recom- 
mend a reduction of the duties levied, were it possible to do this without 
an equal diminution of the revenue of Upper Canada, which can by no 
means afford it. 

The financial relations between these two Provinces are a source of 
great and increasing disputes. The greater part, almost the whole of 
the imports of Upper Canada entering at the ports of Lower Canada, 
the Upper Province has urged and established its claim to a proportion 
of the duties levied on them. This proportion is settled, from time to 
time, by commissioners appointed from each province. Lower Canada 
now receives about three, and Upper Canada about two-fifths of the 
whole amount : nor is this the greatest cause of dissension and dissatis- 
faction. The present revenue of Upper Canada being utterly inadequate 
to its expenditure, the only means that that province will have of paying 
the interest of its debt, will be by increasing its Customs' duties. But, 
as these are almost all levied in Lower Canada, this cannot be dene 
without raising the taxation also of the Lower Canadians, who have, as 
it is, a large surplus revenue. It was for the better settlement of these 
points of difference, that the Union of the two Canadas was proposed 
in 1822 ; and the same feeling produces a great part of the anxiety now 
manifested for that measure by a portion of the people of Upper Can- 
ada. 

A considerable revenue is raised from all these provinces by the 
Post-Office establishment common to all of them, and subordinate to the 
General Post-Office in England. The surplus revenue, which appears 
from a report to the House of Assembly to amount to no less than £10,- 
000 per annum, is transmitted to England\ The Assembly made it a 
matter of great complaint that an important internal public institution 
of the provinces should be entirely regulated and administered by the 
rulers and servants of an English public office, and that so large an 
amount of revenue, raised entirely without the consent of the colonies. 



55 

in a manner not at all free from objectiors, should be transmitted to tha 
mother country.* I cannot but say that there is great justice in these 
complaints, and I am decidedly of opinion that if any plan of an united 
government of these provinces should be adopted, the control and reve- 
nue of the post-office should be given up to the Colony. 

For the reasons I have before explained, there is hardly the semblance 
of direct taxation in Lower Canada for general and local purposes. — 
This immunitv from taxation has been sometimes spoken of as a great 
privilege of the people of Lower Canada, and a great proof of the jus- 
tice and benevolence of their government. The description which I 
have given of the singularly defective provision made for the discharge 
of the most important duties of both the general and local government, 
will, I think, make it appear that this apparent saving of the pockets of 
the people has been caused by their privation of many of the institutions 
which every civilized community ought to possess. A people can hard- 
ly be congratulated on having had at little cost a rude and imperfect ad- 
ministration of justice, hardly the semblance of police, no public provi. 
sion for education, no lighting, and bad pavements in its cities, and 
means of communication so imperfect, that the loss of time, and wear 
and tear caused in taking any article to market, may probably be esti. 
mated at ten times the expense of good roads. If the Lower Canadians 
had been subjected, or rather had been taught lo subject themselves, to 
a much greater amount of taxation, they would probably at this time 
have been a much wealthier, a much better governed, a much more civi- 
lized, and a much more contented people. 



Upper Canada* 

The information which I have to give respecting the state of Upper 
Canada not having been acquired in the course of my actual administra- 
tion of the government of that province, will necessarily be much less 
ample and detailed than that which I have laid before your Majesty res. 
pecting Lower Canada. My object will be to point out the principal 
causes to which a general observation of the province induces me to at- 
tribute the late troubles.; and even this task will be performed with 
comparative ease and brevity, inasmuch as I am spared the labor of 
much explanation and proof, by being able to refer to the details which 
I have given, and the principles which I have laid down in describing 
the institutions of the lower province. 

At first sight it appears much more difficult to form an accurate idea 
of the state of Upper than of Lower Canada. The visible and broad line 
of demarcation which separates parties by the distinctive character^ of 
race, happily has no existence in the Upper province. The quarrel is 
one of an entirely English, it not British population. Like all such 
quarrels, it has, in fact, created not two, but several parties ; each of 
which has some objects in common with some one of those to which it 
is opposed. They differ on one point and agree on another ; the sec- 
tions which unite together one day, are strongly opposed the next ; and 
the very party which acts as one against a common opponent, is in truth 
composed of divisions seeking utterly different or incompatible objects. 
It is very difficult to make out from the avowals of parties the real ob- 
jects of their struggles, and still less easy is it to discover any cause of 
such importance as would account for its uniting any large mass of the 

* The privilege of franking possessed by a few public officers in this province, 
is of a singular kind ; for as it is necessary for the public service that such privi- 
lege should be exercised, and as the English office accords no immunities to the 
functionaries of a colonial government, the postage is charged on all franked let- 
ters, and the Provincial Treasury has to pay the amoont over to the post-office.— 
This, in fact, destroys in a great measure the utility of the privilege for public 
purposes, because public officers are unwilling to use the post for their commu- 
nications, when their doing so diminishes the revenues of the province. 



56 

yeople in an attempt to overthrow, by forcible means, the existing form 
of government . 

The peculiar geographical character of the province greatly increases 
the difficulty of obtaining very accurate information. Its inhabitants 
scattered along an extensive frontier, with very imperfect means of com- 
munication, and a limited and partial commerce, have, apparently, no 
unity of interest or opinion. The province has no great centre with 
which all the separate parts are connected, and which they are accus- 
tomed to follow in sentiment and action ; nor is there that habitual in- 
tercourse between the inhabitants of different parts of the country, 
which, by diffusing through all a knowledge of the opinions and inter- 
ests of each, makes a people one and united, in spite of extent of territo- 
ry and dispersion of population. Instead of this, there are many petty 
local centres, the sentiments and the interests (or at least what are fan- 
cied to be so) of which, are distinct, and perhaps opposed. It has been 
stated to me, by intelligent persons from England, who had travelled 
through the province for purposes of business, that this isolation of the 
different districts from each other was strikingly apparent in all attempts 
to acquire information in one district respecting the agricultural or com- 
mercial character of another ; and that not only were very gross at- 
tempts made to deceive an inquirer on these points, but that even the in- 
formation which had been given in a spirit of perfect good faith, gene- 
rally turned out to be founded in great misapprehension. From these 
causes a stranger who visits any one of these local centres, or who does 
not visit the whole, is almost necessarily ignorant of matters, a true 
knowledge of which is essential to an accurate comprehension of the 
real position of parties, and of the political prospects of the country. 

The political contest which has so long been carried on in the Assem- 
bly and the press appears to have been one exhibiting throughout its 
whole course the characteristic features of the purely political part of 
the contest in Lower Canada; and, like that, originating in an unwise 
distribution of power in the constitutional system of the province. The 
financial disputes which so long occupied the contending parties in Low- 
er Canada, were much more easily and wisely arranged in the Upper 
Province ; and the struggle, though extending itself over a variety of 
questions of more or less importance, avowedly and distinctly rested on 
the demand for responsibility in the executive government. 

In the preceding account of the working of the constitutional system 
in Lower Canada, I have described the effect which the irresponsibility 
of the real advisers of the Governor had in lodging permanent authority 
in the hands of a powerful party, linked together not only by common 
party interests, but by personal ties. But in none of the North Ameri- 
can provinces has this exhibited itself for so long a period, or to such 
an extent, as in Upper Canada, which has long been entirely governed 
by a party commonly designated through the Province as the " family 
compact," a name not much more appropriate than party designations 
usually are, inasmuch as there is, in truth, very little of family con- 
nection among the persons thus united. For a long time this body 
of men, receiving at times accessions to its numbers, possessed 
almost all the highest public offices by means ot which and of 
its influence in the Executive Council, it wielded all the powers of 
government; it maintained influence in the Legislature by means of 
its predominance in the Legislative Council ; and it disposed of the 
large number of petty posts which are in the patronage of the gov- 
ernment all over the Province. Successive Governors, as they came 
in their turn, are said to have either submitted quietly to iis influ- 
ence, or, after a short and unavailing struggle, to have yielded to 
!this well-organized party the real conduct of affairs. The Bench, 
the Magistracy, the high offices of the Episcopal Church, and a great 
part of the legal profession, are filled by the adherents of this party; by 
grant or purchase they have acquired nearly the whole of the waste 
lands of the province ; they are all-powerful in the chartered banks, and, 
till lately, Bhared among themselves almost exclusively all offices of tru&t 



57 

and profi*. The bulk of this party consists, for the most part,, of native* 
born inhabitants of the colony, ot of emigrants who settled in it befcra 
the last war with the United States; the principal members of it belong 
to the church of England, and the maintenance of the claims, of that 
church has always been one of its distinguishing characteristics. 

A monopoly of power so extensive and so lasting could not fail, in 
process of time, to excite envy, create dissatisfaction, and ultimately 
provoke attack ; and an opposition consequently grew up in the Assem. 
bly which assailed the ruling party, by appealing to popular principles of 
government, by denouncing the alleged jobbing and profusion of the 
official body, and by instituting inquiries into abuses, for the purpose, of 
promoting reform, and especially economy. The question of the greatest 
importance, raised in the course of these disputes, was that of the disposal 
of the Clergy Reserves; and, though different modes of applying these 
lands, or, rather, the funds derived from them, were suggested, the 
Reformers, or opposition, v \vero generally very successful in their appeals 
to the people, against the project of the Tory or official party, which was 
that of devoting them exclusively to the maintenance of the English 
Episcopal Church. The Reformers, by successfully agitating this and 
various economical questions, obtained a majority, Like almost all pop* 
Ular colonial parlies, it managed its power with very little discretion and 
skill, offended a large number of the constituencies, and, being baffled by 
the Legislative Council, and resolutely opposed by all the personal and 
official influence of the official bociy, a dissolution again placed it in a 
minority in the Assembly. This turn of fortune was not confined to a 
single instance ; for neither party has for some time possessed the majo<. 
rity in two successive parliaments. The present is the fifth of these aU 
iernating Houses of Assembly. 

The Reformers, however, at last discovered that success in the elecv 
tions insured them very little practical benefit. For the official party, 
not being removed when it failed to command a majority in the Assem* 
bly, still continued to wield all the powers of the executive government, 
to strengthen itself by its patronage, and to influence the policy of the 
colonial governor and of the colonial department at home. By its se- 
cure majority in the Legislative Council, it could effectually control the 
legislative powers of the Assembly. It could choose its own moment 
for dissolving hostile assemblies ; and could always insure, for those that 
were favorable to itself, the tenure of their seats for the full term of four 
years allowed by the law. Thus the reformers found that their triumph 
at elections could not in any way facilitate the progress of their view*, 
while the executive government remained constantly in the hands of 
their opponents. They rightly judged that, if the higher offices and the 
executive council were always held by those who could command a ma- 
jority in the Assembly, the constitution of the Legislative Council Was a 
matter of very little moment, inasmuch as the advisers of the Governor 
could always take care that its composition should be modified so as to 
suit their own purposes. They concentrated their powers, therefore, for 
the purpose of obtaining the responsibility of the Executive Council ; 
and I cannot help contrasting the practical good sense of the English 
Reformers of Upper Canada with the less prudent course of the French 
majority in the Assembly of Lower Canada, as exhibited in the different 
demands of constitutional change, most earnestly pressed hy each.— 
Both, in fact, desired the same object, namely, an extension of popular 
influence in the government. The Assembly of Lower Canada attacked 
the Legislative Council ; a body, of which the constitution was certain, 
ly the most open to obvious theoretical objections, on the part of all the 
advocates of popular institutions, but, for the same reason, most sure of 
finding powerful defendants at home. The Reformers of Upper Canada 
paid little attention to the composition of the Legislative Council, and 
directed their exertions to obtaining such an alteration of the Executive 
Council as might have been obtained without any derangement of the 
constitutional balance of power ; but they well knew, that if once they 
obtained possession of the Executive Council and the higher offices of 

H 



3S 

the Province, the Legislative Council would noon be unable to offer any 
effectual reaistance to their meditated reforms. 

It was upon this question of the responsibility of the Executive Coun- 
cil that the great struggle has for a long time been carried on between 
the official party and the reformers ; for the official party like all par- 
ties long in power, was naturally .unwilling to submit itself to any such 
responsibility as would abridge its tenure or cramp its exercise of au- 
thority. Reluctant to acknowledge any responsibility to the people of 
the colony, this party appears to have paid a somewhat refractory and 
nominal submission to the imperial government, relying in fact on .secu- 
ring a virtual .independence by this nominal submission to the distant au- 
thority of the Colonial Department, or to the powers of a governor, over 
whose policy they were certain, by their facilities of access, to obtain a 
paramount influence. 

The views of the great body of the Reformers appear to have been li- 
mited, according to their favourite expression, to the making the coloni- 
al constitution " an exact transcript " of that of Great Britain ; and 
they only desired that the Crown should, in Upper Canada, as at home , 
entrust the administration of affairs to men possessing the confidence of 
the Assembly. It cannot be doubted, however, that there were many 
of the party who wished to assimilate the institutions of the province 
rather to those of the United States than to those of the mother country. 
A few persons, chiefly of American origin, appear to have entertained 
these designs from the outset ; but the number had at last been very much 
increased by the despair which many of those who started with more li- 
mited views conceived of their being carried into effect under the exist- 
ing form of government. 

Each party, while it possessed the ascendency, has been accused by its 
opponents of having abused its power over the public funds in those 
modes of local jobbing which I have described as so common in the North 
American Colonies. This, perhaps, is to be attributed partly to the cir. 
cumstance adverted to above, as increasing the difficulty of obtaining any 
accuiate information as to the real circumstances of the province. From 
these causes it too often happened that the members of the House of As- 
sembly come to the meeting of the Legislature ignorant of the real char, 
acterof the general interests intrusted to their guaidianship, intent only 
on promoting sectional objects, and anxious chiefly to secure for the coun- 
ty they happen to represent, or the district with which they are connect- 
ed, as large a proportion as possible of any funds which the Legislature 
may have at its disposal. In Upper Canada, however, the means of do- 
ing this were never so extensive as those possessed by the lower province ; 
and the great works which the province commenced on a very extended 
scale, and executed in a spirit of great carelessness and profusion, havo 
left so little surplus revenue, thai this province alone, among the North 
American Colonies, has fortunately for itself been compelled to establish 
a system of local assessments, and to leave local works in a great meas- 
ure, to the energy and means of the localities themselves. It is asserted, 
however, that the nature of those great works, and the manner in which 
they were carried on, evinced merely a regard for local interests, and a 
disposition to strengthen party influence. The inhabitants of the less 
thickly-peopled districts complained that the revenues of the province 
were employed in works by which only the frontier population would be. 
nefit. The money absorbed by undertakings which they described as dis. 
proportioned to the resources and to the wants of the province, would, 
they alleged, have sufficed to establish practicable means of communi- 
cation over the whole country ; and, they stated, apparently not without 
foundation, .that had this latter course been pursued, the population and 
the resources of the province would have been so augmented as to make 
the works actually undertaken both useful and profitable. The careless- 
ness and profusion which marked the execution of there works, the ma- 
nagement of which, it was complained, was entrusted chiefly to members 
of the ruling party, were also assumed to be the result of a deliberate 
purpose, and to be permitted, if not encouraged, in order that a few indi» 



59* 

vidualsrnight be enriched at the expense of lb a community. Circum- 
stances to which I shall hereafter revert, by which the further progress 
of theso works has been checked, and the large expenses incurred iff' 
bringing them to their present state of forwardness, have been rendered 
unavailing, have given greater force to these complaints, and, in addition;' 
to the discontent produced by the objects of the expenditure, the govern- 
ing party has been made responsible for a failure in the accomplishment 
of those objects, attributable to causes over which it had no controul.— ■ 
But to whatever extent these practices may have been carried, the course 
of the parliamentary contest in Upper Canada has not been marked by 
that singular neglect of the great duties of a legislative body, which I- 
have remarked in the proceedings of the parliament of Lower Canada. 
The statute book of the upper province abounds with useful and well, 
constructed measures of reform, and presents an honourable contrast to 
that of the lower province. 

While the parties were thus struggling, the operation of a cause.utterly 
unconnected with their disputes, suddenly raised up a very considerable 
third party, which began to make its- appearance among the political dis- 
putants about the time that the quarrel was at its height. I have said that 
in Upper Canada there is no animosity of races ; there is nevertheless a 
distinction of origin which has exercised a very important influence on 
the- com position of parties, and appears likely, sooner or later, to become 
the prominent and absorbing element of political division. The official 
and reforming parties which I have described were both composed for the 
most part, and were almost entirely led, by native-born Canadians, Ame- 
rican settlers, or emigrants of a very ancient date ; and as one section 
of this more ancient population possessed, so another was the only body 
of persons that claimed, the management of affairs, and the enjoyment of 
of offices conferring emolument or power, until the extensive emigration 
from Great Britain, which followed the disastrous period of 1825 and 
1826, changed the state of things, by suddenly doubling the population, 
and introducing among. the ancient disputants for power, an entirely new 
class of persons. The new comers, however, did not for a long-time ap. 
pear as a distinct' party in the politics of Upper Canada. A large num- 
ber of the higher class of emigrants, particularly the half-pay officers, 
who were induced to settle in this province, had belonged to the Tory 
party in- England, and, in conformity with their ancient predilections, 
naturally arrayed themselves on the side of the official party, contending 
with the representatives of the people. The mass of the humbler order 
of emigrants, accustomed in the mother country to complain of the cor. 
ruptien and profusion of the government, and to seek- for a reform of 
abuses, by increasing the popular influence in the representative body, 
arrayed themselves on the side of those who represented the people,, and 
attacked oligarchical power and abuses ; but there was still a great dif. 
ference of opinion between each of the two Canadian parties, and that 
section of the British which for a while acted with it: Each of the Ca- 
nadian parties, while it differed with the other about the tenure of politi- 
cal powers- in the colony, desired almost the same degree of practical in. 
dependence of the mother country ; each felt and each betrayed in its po- 
litical conduct a jealousy of the emigrants, and a wish to maintain- the 
powers of office and the emoluments of the professions in the hands of 
persons born or long resident in the colony. The British, on the contra- 
ry, to whichever party they belonged, appeared to agree in desiring that 
the connection with the mother country should be drawn closer. They 
differ very little among themselves, I imagine, in desiring such a change 
as should assimilate the government of Upper Canada, in spirit as well 
as in form, to the government of England, retaining an Executive suffi- 
ciently powerful to curb popular excesses, and giving to the majority of 
the people, or to such of them as the less liberal would trust with politi- 
cal rights, some substantial control over the administration of affairs.— 
But the great common object was, and is, the removal of those disquali- 
fications to which British emigrants are subject, so that they might Keel 
as citizens instead of aliens in the land of their adoption. 



60 

Srieh was the state of parties when Sir F. Head, on assuming the g(v- 
ternment of the colony dismissed from the Executive Council some of 
the members who were most obnoxious to the House of Assembly, and 
requested three individuals to succeed them. Two of these gentlemen, 
Dr. Rolph and Mr. R. Baldwin, were connected with the reforming parly, 
and the third, Mr. Dunn, was an Englishman, who had held the office ot 
Receiver-General for nearly fourteen years, and up to that time had ab. 
stained from any interference in politics. These gentlemen were, at first, 
reluctant to take office, because they feared that, as there were still 
three ot the former council left, they should be constantly maintaining a 
doubtful struggle for the measures which they considered necessary. — 
They were, however, at length induced to forego their scruples, chiefly 
upon the representations of some of their friends, that when they had a 
goVernor who appeared sincere in his professions of reform, and who 
promised them his entire confidence, it was neither generous nor prudent 
to persist in a refusal which might be taken to imply distrust of his sin- 
cerity, and they accordingly accepted office. Among the first acts of the 
governor, after the appointment of this council, was, however, the nomi. 
nation to some vacant offices of individuals, who were taken from the 
old official party, and this without any communication with his council. 
These appointments were attacked by the House of Assembly, and the 
new council, finding that their opinion was never asked upon these cr 
other matters, and that they Were seemingly to be kept in ignorance of 
all those public measures, which popular opinion nevertheless attributed 
to their advice, remonstrated privately on the subject with the governor. 
Sir Francis desired them to make a formal representation to him on the 
subject; they did so, and this produced such a reply from him as left 
them no choice but to resign. The occasion of the differences whiGh 
had caused the resignation, was made the subject of communication be- 
tween the governor and the Assembly, so that the whole community 
were informed of the grounds of the dispute. 

The contest which appeared to be thus commenced on the question of 
the responsibility of the Executive Council, was really decided on very 
different grounds. Sir F. Head who appears to have thought that the main- 
tenance of the connection with Great Britain depended upon his triumph 
over the majority of the Assembly, embarked in the contest with a de. 
termination to use every influence in his power in order to bring it to a 
successful issue. He succeeded, in fact, in putting the issue in such a 
light before the province, that a great portion of the peeple really ima. 
gjned that they were called upon to decide the question of separation by 
their votes. The dissolution, on which he ventured, when he thought 
the public mind sufficiently ripe, completely answered his expectations. 
The British, in particular, were roused by the proclaimed danger to the 
connection with 1he mother country ; they were indignant at some por- 
tions of the conduct and speeches of certain members of the late majority, 
which seemed to mark a determined preference to American over British 
institutions. They were irritated by indications of hostility to British 
emigration which they saw, or fancied they saw, in some recent proceed- 
ings of the Assembly. Above all, not only they, but a great many 
others, had marked with envy the stupendous public works which were at 
that period producing their eff-ct in the almost marvellous growth of the 
wealth and population of the neighboring 6tate of New York ; and they 
reproached the Assembly with what they considered an unwise econo- 
my, in preventing the undertaking or even completion of similar works, 
that might, as they fancied, have produced a similar developenicnt of the 
resources of Upper Canada. The general support of the British deter- 
mined the elections in favour of the government ; and though very large 
and close minorities which in many cases supported the defeated candi- 
dates, marked the force which the Reformers could bring into the field, 
even in spite of the disadvantages under which they laboured from the 
momentary prejudices against them, and the unusual manner in which 
the Crown, by its representative, appeared to make itself a pcrty in an 



6tf 

electioneering contest, the reault was the return of a vary largo majority 

bostila in politics to that of the late Assembly. 

It is rather singular, however, that the result which Sir F. Head ap- 
pears really to have aimed at vttta by no means secured by this apparent 
triumph. His object in all his previous measures, and in the nomina- 
tion of the executive councillors, by whom he replaced the retiring mem- 
bers, was evidently to make the council a means of administrative inde- 
pendence for the Governor. Sir F. Head would seem to have been, at 
the commencement ot his administration, really desirous of effecting 
certain reforms which he believed to be needful, and of rescuing the 
substantial power of the Government from the hands of the party by 
which it had been so long monopolized. The dismissal of the old mem- 
bers of (he Executive Council was the consequence of this intention ; 
but though willing to take measures for the purpose of emancipating him. 
self from the thraldom in which it was stated that oth<\r Governors had 
been held, he could not acquiesce in the claims of the House of Assem- 
bly to have a really responsible colonial executive. The result of the elec- 
tions was to give him, as h« conceived, a House of Assembly pledged to 
support him as Governor, in the exercise of the independent authority 
he had claimed. On the very first occasion, however, on which he at- 
tempted to protect an officer of the Government, unconnected whh the 
old official party, from charges which, whether well or ill-founded, were 
obviously brought forward on personal grounds, he found that tho new 
house was even more determined than its predecessor to assert its right 
to exercise a substantial controul over the government ; and that unless 
he was disposed to risk a collision with both branches of the Legislature, 
then composed of similar materials, and virtually under one influence, 
he must succumb. Unwilling to incur tho risk, when, as he justly irna. 
gined, there was no party upon whose support he could rely to bear him 
safely through the contest, he yielded the point. Although the commit, 
tee appointed to inquire into the truth 'of the charges made against Mr. 
Hepburn refused to adopt a report confirming these charges, prepared by 
their chairman, (by whom the accusation had been brought forward, 
and by whom the committee was virtually nominated,) Sir F, Head per- 
suaded the individual in question to resign his office, and to take one of 
very inferior emolument. From that time he never attempted to assert the 
independence which the new House of Assembly had been elected to se. 
cure. The Government consequently reverted in effect to the party 
which ho had found in office when he assumed the governorship, and 
which it had been his first act to dispossess. In their hands it still re- 
mains; and 1 must state that it is the general opinion, that never was 
the power of the " family compact" so extensive or so absolute as it 
has been from the first meeting of the existing parliament down to the 
present time. 

It may, indeed, be fairly said, that the real result of Sir F. Head's 
policy was to establish that very administrative influence of the leaders 
of a majority in the Legislature which he had so obstinately disputed. — 
The executive councillors of his nomination, who seem to have taken 
office almost on the express condition of being mere ciphers, are not, in 
fact, then, the real government of the province. It is said that the new of- 
ficers of government whom Sir F Head appointed from without the pale of 
official eligibility, feel more apprehension of the present house than, so 
far as can be judged, was ever felt by their predecessors with regard to 
the most violent of the reforming House of Assembly. Their appre. 
hension, however, is not confined to the present house ; they feel that 
under no conceivable contingency can they expect an Assembly dispo- 
sed to support them ; and they accordingly appear to desire such a change 
in the colonial system as might make them dependant upon the Imperial 
Government alone, and secure them against all interference from the 
Legislature of the Province, whatever party should obtain a preponder- 
ance in the Assembly. 

.While the nominal government thus possesses no real power, the Lc- 



6$ 

gsslatiue, by whose leaders the substantial power is enjoyed, by riorneau*- 
possesses so much of the real confidence of the people as a Legislature 
ought to command, even from those who differ from it on the questions 
of the day. I say this without meaning, to cast any imputation on the 
members of the House of Assembly, because, in fact, the circumstances 
under which they were elected were such as to render them peculiarly 
objects of suspicion and reproach to a number of their countrymen. — 
They were accused of having violated their pledges at the election. It 
is said that many of them came forward and were elected, as being real- 
ly reformers, though opposed to any such claims to colonial independ- 
ence as might involve a separation from the mother country. There seems 
to be no doubt that in several places, where the Tories succeeded, the 
electors were merely desirous of returning members who would not-haz- 
ard any contest with England by the assertion of claims which, from trie 
proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, they believed to be practically 
needless 5 and who should support Sir F. Head in those economical re- 
forms which the country desired far more than political changes— re- 
forms, for the sake of which alone political changes had been sought.— 
In a number of other instances, too, the elections were carried by the 
Unscrupulous exercise of the influence of the government, and by a dis- 
play of violence on the part of the Tories, who were emboldened by the 
countenance afforded to them by the authorities. It was stated, but I 
believe without any sufficient foundation, that the government made 
grants of land to persons who had no title to them, in order to secure 
their votes. This report originated in the fact, that patents for persons 
who were entitled to grants, but had not taken them out, were sent down 
to the polling places, to be given to the individuals entitled to them if 
they were disposed to vote for the government candidate. The taking such 
measures, in order to secure their fair right of voting to the electors in a 
particular interest, must be considered rather as as an act of official favor- 
itism, than as an electoral fraud. But we cannot wonder that the defeat- 
ed party put the very worst construction on acts which gave some ground 
for it; and they conceived, in consequence, a strong resentment against 
the means by which they believed that the Representative of the Crown 
had carried the elections, his interference in which in any way was stig- 
matised by them as a gross violation of constitutional privilege and pro- 
priety. 

It cannot be matter of surprise, that such facts and such impressions 
produced in the country an exasperation and a despair of good govern- 
ment, which extended far beyond those who had actually been defeated 
at the poll. For there was nothing in the use which the leaders of the 
Assembly have made of their power to soften the discontent excit- 
ed by the alleged mode of obtaining it. Many even of those who 
had supported the successful candidates, were disappointed in every 
expectation which they had formed of the policy to be pursued by their 
new representatives. No economical reforms were introduced. The 
Assembly, instead of supporting the Governor, compelled his obedience 
to itself, and produced no change in the administration of affairs, ex. 
cept that of reinstating the "family compact" in power. On some 
topics on which the feelings of the people were very deeply engaged, 
as, for instance, the Clergy Reserves, the Assembly is accused of hav- 
ing shown a disposition to act in direct defiance of the known senti- 
ments of a vast majority of its constituents. The dissatisfaction arising 
from these causes was carried *o its height by an act that appeared in 
defiance of all constitutional right, to prolong the power of a majori- 
ty which, it was supposed, counted on not being able to retain its ex- 
istence after another appeal to the people. This was the passing an 
act preventing the dissolution of the existing, as well as any future As- 
sembly, on the demise of the Crown. The act was passed in expecta- 
tion of the approaching decease of his late Majesty; and it has, in fact, 
prolonged the existence of the present Assembly, from the period 
of a single year to one of four. It is said that this step is justified 
by the example of the other North American Colonies. But it is cer- 



63 

-tain that it nevertheless caused very great dissatisfaction, and was re* 
garded as an unbecoming usurpation of power. 

It was the prevalence of the general dissatisfaction thus caused that 
emboldened the parties who instigated the insurrection to an attempt, 
which may be characterized as having been as foolishly contrived and as 
ill.conducted, as it was wicked and treasonable. This ouibreak, which 
common prudence and good management would have prevented from 
coming to a head, was promptly quelled by the alacrity with which the 
population, especially the British portion of it, rallied round the govern- 
ment. The proximity of the American frontier, the nature of the border 
country, and the wild and daring character, together with the periodical 
want of employment of its population, have unfortunately enabled a few 
desperate exiles to continue the troubles of their coqntry, by moans of the 
predatory gangs which have from time to time invaded and robbed, under 
the pretext of revolutionising the province. But the general loyalty of 
the population has been evinced by the little disposition that has been 
exhibited by any portion of it to accept the proffered aid of the refugees 
and foreign invaders, and by the unanimity with which all have turned 
out to defend their country. 

It has not, indeed, been exactly ascertained what proportion of the in- 
habitants of Upper Canada were prepared to join Mackenzie in his trea- 
sonable enterprise, or were so disposed that we may suppose they would 
have arrayed themselves on his side, had he obtained any momentary suc- 
cess, as indeed was for some days within his grasp. Even if I were con- 
vinced that a large proportion of the population would, under any cir- 
cumstances, have lent themselves to his projects, I should be inclined to 
attribute such a disposition merely to the irritation produced by those tem- 
porary causes of dissatisfaction with the Government of the Province, 
which I have specified, and not to any settled design on the part qf any 
great number, either to subvert existing institutions, or to change their 
present connection with Great Britain for a junction with the United 
States. I am inclined to view the insurrectionary movements which did 
take place as indicative of no deep roojLed disaffection, and to believe that 
-almost the entire body of the reformers of this province sought only by 
constitutional means to obtain those objects for which they had so long 
peaceably struggled before the unhappy troubles occasioned by the vio- 
lence of a few unprincipled adventurers and heated enthusiasts. 

It cannot, however, be doubted, that the events of the past year have 
greatly increased the difficulty of settling the disorders of Upper Canada. 
A degree of discontent, approaching, if not amounting, to disaffection, 
has gained considerable ground. The causes of dissatisfaction continue 
to act on the minds of ihe reformers ; and their hope of redress, under 
the present order of things, has been seriously diminished. The exaspe- 
ration caused by the conflict itself, the suspicions and terror of that try- 
ing period, and the use made by the triumphant party of the power thrown 
into their hands, have heightened the passions which existed before. It 
certainly appeared too much as if the rebellion had been purposely invi- 
ted by the government, and the unfortunate men who took part in it de- 
liberately drawn into a trap by those who subsequently inflicted so severe 
a punishment on them for their error. It seemed, too, as if the dominant 
party made use of the occasion afforded it by the real guilt of a few des- 
perate and imprudent men, in order to persecute or disable the whole 
body of their political opponents. A great number of perfectly innocent 
individuals were thrown into prison, and suffered in person, property and 
character. The whole body of reformers were subjected to suspicion, 
and to harrassing proceedings, instituted by magistrates, whose political 
leanings were notoriously adverse to them. — Severe laws we-e passed, 
under colour of which individuals very generally esteemed were punished 
without any jform of trial. 

The two persons who suffered the penalty of the law unfortunately 
engaged a great share of the public sympathy; their pardon had been 
solicited in petitions signed, it is generally asserted, by no less than 30,- 
rOOO of their countrymen. The rest of the prisoners were detained in 



64 

confinement a considerable time. A large number of the subordinate ac- 
tors in the insurrection were severely punished and public anxiety was 
raised to the highest pitch by the uncertainty respecting the fate of the 
others, who were from time to time partially released. It was not until 
the month of October last that the whole of the prisoners were disposed 
of, and a partial amnesty proclaimed, which enabled the large numbers 
who had fled the country, and so long, and at such imminent hazard, 
hung on its frontier.to return in security to their homes. I make no men- 
tion of the reasons which, in the opinion of the local government render- 
ed these different steps advisable, because my object is not to discuss the 
propriety of its conduct, hut to point out the effect which it necessarily 
had in augmenting irritation. 

The whole party of the Reformers a party which I am inclined to 
estimate as very considerable, and which has commanded large majorities 
in different Houses of Assembly, has certainly felt itself assailed by the 
policy pursued. It sees the whole powers of government wielded by its 
enemies, and imagines that it can perceive also a determination to use 
these powers inflexibly against all the objects which it most values. The 
wounded private feelings of individuals, and the defeated public policy of 
a party, combine to spread a wide and serious irritation ; but I do not 
believe that this yet proceeded so far as to induce at all a general dispo. 
eition to look to violent measures for redress. The reformers have been 
gradually recovering their hopes of regaining their ascendancy by con- 
stitutional means ; the sudden pre-eminence which the question of the 
clergy reserves and rectories has again assumed during the last summer, 
appears to have increased their influence and confidence ; and I have no 
reason to believe that anything can make them generally and decidedly 
desirous of separation, except some such act of the imperial government 
as shall deprive them of all hopes of obtaining real administrative power 
even in the event of their again obtaining a majority in the Assembly.— 
With such a hope before them, I believe that they will remain in tranquil 
expectation of the result of the general election, which cannot be delayed 
beyond the summer of 1840. 

To describe the character and objects of the other parties in this Pro- 
vince would not be very easy : and their variety and complication is so 
great, that it would be of no great advantage were I to explain the va- 
rious shades of opinion that mark each. Jn a very laboured essay, 
which was published in Toronto during my stay in Canada, there was 
an attempt to classify the various* parties in the province under six dif- 
ferent heads. Some of these were classified according to strictly politi- 
cal opinions, some according to religion, and some according to birth- 
place ; and each party, it was obvious, contained in its ranks a great 
many who would, according to the designations used, have as naturally 
belonged to soma other. But it is obvious, from all accounts of tho dif- 
ferent parties, that the nominal government, that is, the majority of the 
executive council, enjoy the confidence of no considerable party, and 
that the parly called the "family compact," which possessess the major- 
ity in both branches of the Legislature, is, in fact, supported at present 
by no very largo number of persons of any party. None are mora hos- 
tile to them than the greater part of that large and spirited British-born 
population to whose steadfast exertions the preservation of the Colony 
during the last winter is mainly attributable, and who see with indigna- 
tion that a monopoly of power and profit is still retained by a small body 
of men, which seems bent on excluding from any participation in it the 
British emigrants. Zealously co-operating with the dominant party in 
resisting treason and foreign invasion, this portion of the population, 
nevertheless, entertains a general distrust and dislike of them ; and 
though many of the most prominent of the British emigrants have al- 
ways acted, and still invariably act, in opposition to the Reformers, and 
dissent from their views of responsible government, I am very much in- 
clined to think that they, and certainly the great mass of their country 
men, really desire such a responsibility of the government as would break 
up the present monopoly office and influence. 



65 

Besides those causes of complaint which are common to the whole of 
the colony, the British settlers havo many peculiar to themselves. The 
emigrants who have settled in the country within the last ten years, are 
supposed to comprise half the population. They complain that while the 
Canadians are desirous of having British capital and labour brought into 
the colony, by means of which their fields may be cultivated, and the value 
of their unsettled possession increased, they refuse to make the colony 
really attractive to British skill and British capitalists. They say that an 
Englishman emigrating to Upper Canada is practically as much an alien 
in that British colony as ha would be if he were to emigrate to the United 
States. He may equally purchase and hold lands, or invest his capital in 
trade in one country as in the other, and he may in either exercise any 
mechanical avocation, and perform any species of manual labour. This, 
however, is the extent of his privileges; his English qualifications avail 
him little or nothing. He cannot, if a surgeon, licensed to act in Eng- 
land, practise without the license of a board of examiners in the province. 
If an attorney, he has to submit to an apprenticeship of five years before 
he is allowed to practise. If a barrister, he is excluded from the profit, 
able part of his profession, arid though allowed to practise at the bar, the 
permission thus accorded to him is practically of no use iri a country 
where, as nine attorneys out of ten are barristers also, there can be no 
business tor a mere barrister. — -Thus, a person who has been admitted to 
the English bar is compelled to serve an apprenticeship of three years to 
a provincial lawyer. 

B/ an act passed last session difficulties are thrown in the way of the 
employment of capital in banking, which have a tendency to preserve the 
monopoly possessed by the chartered banks of the colony, in which the 
Canadian party are supreme, and the influence of which is said to be em- 
ployed directly as an instrument for upholding the political supremacy of 
the party. Under the system, also, of selling land pursued by the govern- 
ment, an individual does not acquire a patent for his land until he has 
paid the whoie of the purchase-money — a period of four to ten years, 
according as his purchase is a Crown or clergy lot ; and until the patent 
issues he has no right to vote. In some of the new states of America, on 
the contrary, especially in Illinois, an individual may practise as a 
surgeon or lawyer almost immediately on his arrival in the country, and 
he has every right of citizenship after a residence of six months in the 
state. An Englishman is therefore, in effect, less an alien in a foreign 
country than in one which forms a part of the British empire. Such are 
the superior advantages in the United States at present, that nothing but 
the feeling, that in the one country he is among a more kindred people, 
Under the same laws, and in a society whose habits and sentiments are 
similar to those to which he ha3 been accustomed, can induce an English 
man to settle in Canada, in preference to the States ; and if in the farmer 
he is deprived of rights which he obtains in the latter, though a foreigner, 
it is not to be wondered at that he should, in many cases, give the pre- 
ference to the land in which he is treated most as a citizen. It is very 
possible that there are but few cases in which the departure of an English- 
man from Upper Canada to the States can be traced directly to any of 
these circumstances in particular; yet the state of society and of feeling 1 
which they have'engendered, has been among the main causes of the great 
extent of re-emigration to the new States of the Union. It operates, too, 
still more to deter emigration from England to the provinces and thus 
both to retard the advance of the colony, and to deprive the mother coun- 
try of one of the principal advantages on account of which the existence 
of the colonies is desirable — the field which they afford for the employ- 
ment of her surplus population and wealth. The native Canadians, 
however, to whatever political party they may belong, appear to be 
unanimous in the wish to preserve these exclusive privileges. The course 
of legislation since the tide of emigration set most strongly to the country, 
and while under its influence the value of all species of property was 
rising, and the resources of the province were rapidly, and (for the old 
inhabitants) profitably developed, has been to draw a yet more marked' 

I 



86 

line between the two classes, instead of obliterating the former distinc- 
tions. The law excluding English lawyers from practice is of recent 
origin. The Speaker of the Reforming House of Assembly, Mr. Bidwel!, 
was among the strongest opponents of any alteration of that law which 
might render it less rigidly exclusive, and, on more than one occasion, 
gave his easting vote against a bill having for its object the admission of 
an English lawyer to practise in the province without serving a previous 
apprenticeship. This point is of more importance in a colony than it 
would at first sfght appear to any one accustomed only to such a state 
of society as exists in England. The members of the legal profession 
are in effect the leaders of the people, and the class from which,, in a 
larger proportion than from any other class, legislators are taken. It 
is, therefore, not merely a monopoly of profit, but, to a considerable 
extent, a monopoly of power, which the present body of lawyers contrive, 
by means of this exclusion, to secure to themselves. No man of mature 
age emigrating to a colony could afford to lose five years of his life in an 
apprenticeship from which he could acquire neither learning nor skill. 
The few professional men, therefore who have gone to Upper Canada 
have turned their attention to other pursuits, retaining, however, a strong 
feeling of discontent against the existing order of things. And many 
who might have emigrated remain at home, or seek some other colony 
where their course is not impeded by similar restrictions. 

But as in Upper Canada, under a law passed immediately after the last 
war with the States, American citizens are forbidden to hold land.it is of the 
more consequence that the country should be made as attractive as possi- 
ble to the emigrating middle classes of Great Britain, the only class 
from which an accession of capital, to be invested in the purchase or 
improvement of lands, can be hoped for. The policy of the law just refer- 
red to may well be doubted, whether the interest of the colony or of the 
mother country are considered, since the wealth and activity, and con- 
sequent commerce, of the province would have been greatly augmented 
had its natural advantages of soil and position been allowed to operate 
in attracting those who were most aware of their existence, and 
eminently fitted to aid in their developement ; and there is great reason 
to believe that that the uncertainty of the titles which many Amoricans 
possess to the land on which they have squatted since the passing of this 
law, is the main case of much of the disloyalty, or rather very lukewarm 
loyalty, evinced by that population in the western district. But when this 
exclusion had been determined upon, it would at least have been wise to 
have removed everything that might have seemed like an obstacle in the 
way of those for whom the land was to be kept open, instead of closing the 
principal avenues to wealth or distinction against them in a spirit of 
petty provincial jealousy. 

The great practical question, however, on which these various parties 
have for a long time been at issue, and which has within a few months 
again become the prominent matter in debate, is that of the clergy 
reserves. The prompt and satisfactory decision of this question is 
essential to the pacification of Canada; and as it was one of the most 
important questions referred to me for investigation, it is necessary that 
I should state it fully and not shrink from making known the light in 
which it has.presented itselt to my mind. The disputes on this subject 
are now of long standing. By the Constitutional Act a certain portion 
ofthelandin every township was set apart for the maintenance of a 
"Protestant" clergy. In that portion of this report which treats of the 
management of the waste lands, the economical mischiefs which have 
resulted from this appropriation of territory are fully detailed ; and the 
present disputes relate solely to the application, and not to the mode of 
raising the funds which are now derived from the sale of the clergy re- 
serves. Under the term " Protestant clergy," the clergy of the church 
of England have always claimed the sole enjoyment of those funds. The 
members of the church of Scotland have claimed to be put entirely on 
a level with the church of England, and have demanded that 
these funds should be equally divided between both. The various deno- 



67 

rmnations of Protostant dispenters have asserted that the term includes 
them, and that out of these funds an equal provision should bo made for 
all Christians who do not belong to the Church of Rome. But a great 
body of all Protestant denominations, and the numerous Catholics who 
inhabit the province, have maintained that any such favor towards any 
one, or even all of the Protestants sects would be most unadvisable, and 
have either demanded the equal application of those funds to the purpose 
of all religious creeds whatsoever, or have urged the propriety of leaving 
each body of religionists to maintain its establishment, to repeal or dis- 
regard the law, and to apply the clergy funds to the general purpose of 
the government, or the support of a general system of education. 

The supporters of these different schemes have long contended in this 
province, and greatly inconvenienced the imperial government by con. 
etant references to its decision, the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
proposed to leave the determination of the matter to the provincial Le- 
gislatures, pledging the imperial government to do its utmost to get a 
parliamentary sanction to whatever course they might adopt. Two 
bills in consequence passed the last House of Assembly, in which the 
reformers had the ascendancy, applying these funds to the purpose of 
education ; and both these bills were rejected by the legislative council. 

During all this time, however, though much irritation had been caus- 
ed by the exclusive claims of the Church of England, and the favour 
shown by the government to one, and that a small religious community, 
the clergy of that church, though an endowed, were not a dominant 
priesthood. They had a far larger share of the public money than the 
clergy of any other denomination ; but they had no exclusive privileges, 
and no authority, save such as might spring from their efficient discharge 
of their sacred duties, or from the energy, ability, or influence of mem- 
bers of their body. But the last public act of Sir John Colborne before 
quitting the government of the province in 1835, which was the estab- 
lishment of the fifty-seven rectories, has completely changed the aspect 
of the question. It is understood that every rector possesses all the spir • 
itualand other privileges enjoyed by an English rector ; and that though 
he may have no right to levy tithes (for even this has been made a ques- 
tion), he is in all other respects in precisely the same position as a cler- 
gyman of the established church in England. This is regarded by all 
other teachers of religion in the country as having at once degraded 
them to a position of legal inferiority to the clergy of the church of Eng- 
land ; and it has been resented most warmly. In the opinion of many 
persons this was the chief pre-disposing cause of the recent insurrection, 
and it is an abiding and unabating cause of discontent. Nor is this to be 
wondered at. The church of England, in Upper Canada, by numbering 
in its ranks all those who belong to no other sect, represents itself as 
being more numerous than any single denomination of Christians in the 
country. Even admitting, however, the justice of the principle upon 
which this enumeration proceeds, and giving that church credit for all 
that it thus claims, its number could not amount to rne-third, probably 
not a fourth, of the population. It is not, therefore, to be expected that 
the other sects, three at least of whom, the Methodists, the Presbyte- 
rians, and the Catholics, claim to be individually more numerous than 
the church of England, should acquiesce quietly in the supremacy thus 
given to it. And it is equally natural that the English dissenters and 
Irish Catholics, remembering the position which they have occupied at 
home, and the long and painful struggle through which alone they have 
obtained the imperfect equality they now possess, should refuse to ac- 
quiesce for themselves in the creation of a similar establishment in their 
new country, and thus to bequeath to their children a strife as arduous 
and embittered as that from which they have so recently and imperfectly 
escaped. 

But for this act, it would have been possible, though highly impolitic, 
to have allowed the clergy reserves to remain upon their former, unde- 
termined and unsatisfactory footing. But the question as to the appli- 
cation of this property must now be settled, if it is intended that the pro» 



vinee is to be free from violent and perilous agitation. Indeed, the 
whole controversy, which had been in a great measure suspended by the 
insurrection, was, in the course of last summer, revived with more heat 
than ever by the most inopportune arrival in the colony of opinions giv* 
en by the English law officers of the Crown in favor of the legality of 
the establishment ot the rectories. Since that period the question has 
again absorbed public attention ; and it is quite clear that it is upon this 
practical point that issue must sooner or later be joined on all the consti- 
tutional questions to which I have previously adverted. I am well aware 
that there are not wanting some who represent the agitation of this ques- 
tion as merely the result of its present unsettled character, and who as- 
sert, that if the claims of the English church to the exclusive enjoyment 
of this property were established by the Imperial Parliament, all parlies, 
however loud their present pretensions, or however vehement their first 
complaints, would peacefully acquiesce in an arrangement which would 
then be inevitable. This might be the case if the establishment of some 
dominant church were inevitable. But it cannot be necessary to point 
out that, in the immediate vicinity of the United States, and with their 
example before the people of Canada, no injustice, real or fancied, occa-r 
sioned and supported by a British rule, would be regarded in this light. — 
The result of any determination on the part of the British government or 
Legislature to give one sect a predominance and superiority would be, 
it might be feared, not to secure the favored sect, bu*, to endanger the loss 
of the colony, and, in vindicating the exclusive pretensions of the Eng- 
lish church, to hazard one of the fairest possessions of the British 
Crown. 

I am bound, indeed, to state, there is a degree of feeling, and an unani. 
mity of opinion in the question of ecclesiastical establishment over 
the northern part of the continent of America, which it will be prudent 
not to overlook in the settlement of this question. The superiority of 
what is called " the voluntary principle" is a question on which I 
may almost say that there is no difference of opinion in the United 
States : and it cannot be denied that on this, as on other points, the tone 
of thought prevalent in the Union has exerted a very considerable influ- 
ence over the neighbouring provinces. Similar circumstances, too, have 
had the effect of accustoming the people ot both countries to regard this 
question in a very different light from that in which it appears in the 
old world ; and the nature of the question is indeed entirely different in 
old and new countries. The apparent right which time and custom 
give to the maintenance of an ancient and respected institution cannot 
exist in a recently settled country, in which everything is new ; and the 
establishment of a dominant church there is a creation of exclusive privi- 
leges in favour of one out of the many religious denominations, and that 
composing a small minority, at t*e expense not merely of the majority, but 
of many as large minorities. The church, too, for which alone it is pro- 
posed that the state should provide, is the church which, being that of the 
wealthy, can best provide for itself, and has the fewest poor to supply 
with gratuitous religious instruction. Another consideration, which 
distinguishes the grounds on which such a question must be decided in 
old and new countries, is, that the state of society in the latter is not 
susceptible of such an organization as is necessary for the efficiency of 
any church establishment of which I know, more especially of one so 
constituted as the established church of England ; for the essence of the 
establishment is its parochial clergy. The services of a parochial cler- 
gy are almost inapplicable to a colony, where a constantly varying 
population is widely scattered over the country. Any clergy there must 
be rather missionary than parochial. 

A still stronger objection to the creation of a church establishment in 
this colony is, that not merely are the members of the church of England a 
small minority at present ; but, inasmuch as the majority of emigrants 
are not members of the church of England, the disproportion is likely to 
increase, instead of disappearing, in the course of time. The mass of 
British emigrants will be either from the middle classes of Great Britain, 



69 

or the poorer classes of Ireland ; the latter almost exclusively Catholics, 
and the former in a great proportion either Scotch Presbyterians or 
English dissenters. 

It is most important that this question should be settled, and so settled 
as to give satisfaction to the majority of the people of the two Canadas, 
whom it equally concerns. And I know of no mode of doing this but by 
repealing all provisions in imperial acts that relate to the application of 
the clergy reserves, and the funds arising trom them, leaving the dis- 
posal of the funds to the local 1 gislature, and acquiescing in whatever 
decision it may adopt. The views which I have expressed on this sub- 
ject sufficiently mark my conviction that, without the adoption of such 
a course, the most mischievous practical cause of dissension will not be 
removed. 

I feel it my duty also, in this as in the Lower Province, to call es- 
pecial atiention to the policy which has been, and which ought to be, 
pursued towards the large Catholic population of the Province. On 
this subject I have received complaints of a general spirit of intolerance 
and disfavour towards all persons of this creed, to which I am obliged 
to give considerable credit from the great respectability and undoubted 
loyalty of those who from whom the complaints were received. Bishop 
M'Donnell, the venerable Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingston, and Mr. 
Manahan, M.P.P. for the County of Hastings, have made representa- 
tions in letters, which will be given in the appendix to this report. — 
The Catholics constitute at least a fifth of the whole population ofUp- 
per Canada. Their loyalty was most generally and unequivocally ex- 
hibited at the late outbreak. Nevertheless, it is said that they are 
wholly excluded from all share in the government of the country and 
the patronage at its disposal, " In Upper Canada," says Mr. Manahan, 
" there never was one Irish Roman Catholic an Executive or Legisla- 
tive Councillor ; nor has one been ever appointed to any public situa- 
tion of emolument and profit in the colony." 

The Irish Catholics complain very loudly and justly of the existence 
of Orangeism in thi'? Colony. They are justly indignant that, in a Pro- 
vince which their loyalty and bravery have materially contributed to 
save, their feelings are outraged by the symbols and processions of this 
association. It is somewhat difficult to understand the nature and ob- 
jects of the rather anomalous Orangeism of Upper Canada. Its mem- 
bers profess to desire to uphold the Protestant religion, but to be free 
from those intolerant feelings towards their Catholic countrymen which 
are the distinctive marks of the Irish Orangemen. They assert, that 
the main object to which the support of the English church is subsidia- 
ry, is to maintain the connection with Great Britain. They have sworn, 
it is said, many ignorant Catholics into their body ; and- at their public 
dinners, after drinking the " pious, glorious, and immortal memory," with 
all the usual formality of abuse of the Catholics, they toast the health of 
the Catholic Bishop, M'Donnell. It would seem that their great pur- 
pose has been to introduce the machinery, rather than the tenets, of 
Orangeism ; and the leaders probably hope to make use of this kind of 
permanent conspiracy and illegal organization to gain political power for 
themselves. In fact, the Catholics scarcely appear to view this institu- 
tion with more jealousy than the Reformers of the Province. It is an 
Irish Tory institution, having not so much a religious as a political bear, 
ing. The Irish Catholics who have been initiated have entered chiefly 
from its supposed national character, and probably with as little regard 
to the political as to the religious objects with which it is connected. — 
Still the organization of this body enables its leaders to exert a powerful 
influence over the populace; and it is stated that, at the last general 
election, the Tories succeeded in carrying more than one seat by means 
of the violence of the organized mob thus placed at their disposal. It is 
not, indeed, at the last election only that the success of the government 
candidate has been attributed to the existence of this association. At 
former elections, especially those for the County of Leeds, it is asserted 
that the return of the Canadian Deputy-Grand-Master and the then At- 



70 

torney- General, his colleague, was procured by means of a violent and 
riotous mob of Orangemen, who prevented the votera in the opposition 
interest from coming up to the poll. In Consequence of this and other 
similar outrages, the Assembly presented an address to Sir Francis B. 
Head, begging "that His Excellency would be pleased to inform the 
House whether the Government of the Province had taken, or deter- 
mined to take, any steps to prevent or discourage public processions of 
Orange Societies, or to discourage the formation and continuance of such 
societies." To this address the Governor made the following reply: — 
•« The Government of this Province has neither taken, nor has it deter- 
mined to take, any steps to prevent or discourage the formation or con- 
tinuance of such societies." It is to be presumed that this answer pro- 
ceeded from a disbelief of the truth of those charges of outrage and riot 
which were made the foundation b of the address. But it can excite no sur- 
prise that the existence of such an institution, cffending one claps by its 
contemptuous hostility to their religion, and another by its violent oppo- 
sition to their politics, and which had been sanctioned by the Governor, 
as was conceived, on account of its political tendencies, should excite 
among both classes a deep feeling of indignation, and add seriously to 
the distrust with which the government was regarded. 

In addition to the irritation engendered by the position of parties by 
the specific causes of dispute to which I have adverted, and by those 
features in the government of the colony which deprived the people of 
all power to effect a settlement of the questions by which the country is 
most deeply agitated, or to redress abuses in the institutions or in the 
administration of the province, there are permanent causes of discontent, 
resulting from the existence of deep-seated impediments, in the way of 
its industrial progress. The province is without any of those means by 
which the resources of a country are developed, and the civilization of a 
people is advanced or upheld. The general administration of justice, it is 
true, appears to be much better in Upper than in Lower Canada. Courts 
of Justice, at least, are brought into every man's neighbourhood by a 
system of circuits ; and there is still some integrity in juries. But there 
are general complaints of the union of political and judicial functions in 
the Chief Justice ; not because any suspicion attaches to that Judge's 
discharge of his duties, but on account of the party grounds upon which 
his subordinates are supposed to be appointed, and the party bias attri- 
buted to them. Complaints, too, similar to those which I have advert- 
ed to in the Lower Province, are made against the system by which 
the Sheriffs are appointed. It is stated that they are selected exclusive- 
ly from the friends or dependents of the ruling party ; that very insuffi- 
cient securities are taken from them ; and that the money arising from 
executions and sales, which are represented as unhappily very numerous 
in this Province, generally remains in their hands for at least a year. — 
For reasons also which I have specified in my account of the Lower 
Province, the composition of the magistracy appears to be a serious cause 
of mischief and dissatisfaction. 

But, independently of these sources of complaint, are the impediments 
which I have mentioned. A very considerable portion of the Province 
has neither roads, post-offices, mills, schools, nor churches. The people 
may raise enough for their own subsistence, and may even have a rude 
and comfortless plenty, but they can seldom acquire wealth ; nor can 
even wealthy landowners prevent their children from growing up igno- 
rant and boorish, and from occupying a far lower mental, moral, and 
social position than they themselves fill. Their means of communica- 
tion with each other of the chief towns of the Province are limited and 
uncertain. With the exception of the labouring class, most of the emi- 
grants who have arrived within the last ten years are poorer now than 
at the time of their arrival in the Province. There is no adequate system 
of local assessment to improve the means of communication ; and the 
funds occasionally voted for this purpose are, under the present system, 
disposed of by a House of Assembly which represents principally the 
interests of the more settled districts, and which it is alleged has boen 



71 

chiefly intent in making their disposal a means of strengthening the in* 
rluence of its members in the constituencies which they represent. — 
These funds have consequently almost always been applied in that part 
of the country where they were least needed ; and they have been too 
frequently expended so as to produce scarcely any perceptible advanta- 
ges. Of the lands which were originally appropriated to the support of 
schools throughout the country, by far the most valuable portion has 
been diverted to the endowment of the university, from which those 
only derive any benefit who reside in Toronto, or those who, having a 
large assured income, are enabled to maintain their children in that town 
at an expense which has been estimated at .£50 per annum for each 
child. Even in the most thickly peopled districts there are but few 
schools, and those of a very inferior character ; while the remote settle, 
ments are almost entirely without any. 

Under such circumstances there is little stimulus to industry or enter- 
prise, and their effect is aggravated by the striking contrast presented by 
such of the United States as border upon this province, and where all is 
activity and progress. I shall, hereafter, in connection with the dispo- 
sal of the public lands, advert to circumstances affecting not Upper Cana- 
da merely, but the whole of our North American colonies in an almost 
equal degree, which will illustrate in detail the causes and results of the 
more prominent of these evils. I have referred to the topic in this place 
in order to notice the inevitable tendency of these inconveniences to ag- 
gravate whatever discontent may be produced by purely political causes, 
and to draw attention to the fact, that those who are most satisfied with 
the present political state of the province, and least disposed to attribute 
economical injuries or social derangement to the form or the working of 
the government, feel and admit that there must have been something 
wrong to have caused so striking a difference in progress and wealth be- 
tween Upper Canada and the neighbouring states of the Union. I may 
also observe, that these evils affect chiefly that portion of the people 
which is composed of British emigrants, and who have had no part in the 
causes to which they are attributable. The native-born Canadians, as 
they generally inhabit the more settled districts of the province, are the 
owners of nearly all the waste lands, and have almost exclusively had the 
application of all public funds, might be expected to have escaped from 
the evils alluded to, and even to have profited by the causes out of which 
they have sprung. Tne number of those who have thus profited is, how- 
ever, comparatively small ; the majority of this class, in common with the 
emigrant population, have suffered from the general depression, and 
share in the discontent and restlessness which this depression hasprodu. 
ced. 

The trade of the country is, however, a matter which appears to de- 
mand a notice here, because so long as any such marked and striking ad- 
vantages in this respect are enjoyed by Americans, as at present arise 
from causes which government has the power to remove, it is impossible 
but that many will look forward with desire to political changes. There 
are laws which regulate, or rather prohibit, the importation of particular 
articles, except from England, especially of tea, which were framed origi- 
nally to protect the privileges of monopolies here ; but which have been 
continued in the province after the English monopoly has been removed. 
It is not that these laws have any appreciable effect in raising the price 
of the commodities in question — almost all used in the province is smug- 
gled across the frontier — but their operation is at once injurious to the 
fair dealer, who is undersold by persons who have obtained their articles 
in the cheaper market of the United States, and to the province, which 
can neither regulate the traffic nor make it a source of revenue It is 
probable, indeed, that the present law has been allowed to continue 
through inadvertence ; but, if so, it is no very satisfactory evidence of 
the care or information of the imperial government that it knows or feels 
so little the oppressive influence of the laws to which it subjects its de - 
pendencies. 

Another and more difficult topic connected with this subject, is the 



ft 

■frisli of this province that it should be allowed to make uso oi New York 
as a port of entry. At present the rate of duty upon all gojds coming 
from the United States, whatever may be thei mature, or the port in Eu- 
rope from which they have been shipped, is such as to compel all impor- 
ters to receive the articles of their trade through the St. Lawrence, the 
navigation of which river opens generally several weeks later than thei 
time at which goods may be obtained in all the parts of Upper Canada 
bordering upon Lake Ontario, by way of Oswego. The dealer, therefore, 
must submit to an injurious delay in his business, or must obtain his 
goods in the autumn, and have his capital lying dead for six months. 
Either of these courses must lessen the amount of traffic by diminishing 
the quantity, or increasing the price, of all commodities ; and the mis- 
chief is seriously enhanced by thj monopoly which the present system 
places in the hands of what are called the " forwarders" on the St. Law- 
rence and the Rideau canal. If goods might be shipped from England to 
be landed at New York in bond, and to be admitted into Upper Canada 
free of duty, upon the production of a certificate from the officer of cus- 
toms at the Englis ) port from which they are shipped, this inconvenience 
would be removed, and the people of the province would in reality bene- 
fit by their connection with England in the superior cheapness of their ar- 
ticles, without paying for it as highly as they do at present in the limita- 
tion of their commerce. 

I have already stated, in my account of Lower Canada, the difficulties 
and disputes which are occasioned by the financial relations of the two 
provinces. The state of affairs, however, which cause these disputes is 
of far greater practical mischief to Upper Canada. That province some 
years ago conceived the very noble project of removing or obviating all 
the natural impediments to the navigation of the St. Lawrence, and. the 
design was to make these works on a scale so commensurate with the 
capabilities of that broad and deep river, as to enable sea-going vessels 
to navigate its whole course to the head of Lake Huron. The design 
was, perhaps, too vast, at least for the first effort of a state at that time 
comparatively so small and poor ; but the boldness with which the people 
undertook it, and the immense sacrifice which they made in order to achieve 
it, are gratifying indications of a spirit which bids fair hereafter to ren- 
der Upper Canada as thriving a country as any state of the American 
Union. The House of Assembly, with this object in view, took a large 
portion of the shares of the Welland Canal, which had been previously 
commenced by a few enterprising individuals. It then commenced the 
great ship canal, called the Cornwall Canal, with a view of enabling 
ships of a considerable draught to avoid the Long Sault Rapids; and 
this work was, at an immense out-lay, brought very far towards a comple- 
tion. It is said that there was great mismanagement, and perhaps no 
little jobbing, in the application of the funds, and the exclusion of the 
work. But the greatest error committed was the undertaking the 
works in Upper, without ensuring their continuation in Lower Canada. 
For the whole of the works in the upper province, when completed, 
would be comparatively, if not utterly, useless, without the execution of 
similar works on that part of the St. Lawrence which lies between the 
province line and Montreal. But this co-operation the Lower Canadian 
Assembly refused or neglected to give ; and the works of the Cornwall Ca- 
nal are now almost suspended from the apparent inutility of completing 
them. 

The necessary expense of these great undertakings was very large ; 
and the prodigality superadded thereto has increased it to such an extent, 
that this province is burthened with a debt of more than a miljion of 
pounds ; the whole revenue, which is about £60,000, being hardly ade- 
quate to pay the interest. The province has already been fortunately 
obliged to throw the whole support of the few and imperfect local works 
which are carried on in different parts of the province on local assess- 
ments ; but it is obvious that it will soon be obliged to have recourse to 
direct taxation to meet its ordinary civil expenditure. For the custom 
duties cannot be increased without the consent of Lower Canada ; and 



that consent it is useless to expect from any House of Assembly chosen 
under the suspended constitution. The canals, which the tolls would, 
if the whole series of necessary works were completed, in all probability 
render the past outlay a source of profit, instead of loss, remain in a state 
of almost hopeless suspension : the Cornwall Canal being unfinished, and 
the works already completed daily falling into decay, and the Welland 
Canal, which has been a source of great commercial benefit, being now in 
danger of becoming useless, from want of money to make the necessary 
repairs. After all its great hopes, and all the great sacrifices which it 
has made to realize them, Upper Canada now finds itself loaded with an 
enormous debt, which it is denied the means of raising its indirect taxa. 
tion to meet, and mocked by the aspect of those unfinished works which 
some small combined efforts might render a source of vast Wealth and 
prosperity, but which now are a source of useless expense and bitter dis- 
appointment. 

It may well be believed that such a state of things is not borne without 
repining by some of the most enterprising and loyal people of the pro- 
vince. It is well known that the desire of getting over these difficultias 
has led many persons in this province to urge the singular claim to have 
a convenient portion of Lower Canada taken from that province, and an. 
nexed to Upper Canada ; and that it induces many to desire an union of 
the provinces as the only efficient means of settling all these disputes on 
a just and permanent footing. But it cannot be matter of surprise that 
in despair of any sufficient remedies being provided by the imperial go- 
vernment, many of the most enterprising colonists of Upper Canada look 
to that bordering country in which no great industrial enterprise ever 
feels neglect or experiences a check, and that men the most attached to 
the existing form of government would find some compensation in a 
change, whereby experience might bid them hope that eVery existing 
obstacle would be speedily removed, and each man's fortune share in the 
progressing prosperity of a flourishing^ state. 

A dissatisfaction with the existing order of things, produced by causes 
such as I have described, necessarily extends to many who desire no' 
change in the political institution's of the province. Those who most 
admire the form of the existing system wish to see it administered in a 
very different mode. Men of all parties feel that the actual circumstances 
of the colony are such as to demand the adoption of widely different mea- 
sures from a ny that have yet been pursued in reference to them. They 
ask for greater firmness of purpose in their rulers, and a more defined 
and consistent policy on the part of the government ; something, in short, 
that will make all parties feel that an order of things has been established 
to which it is necessary that they should conform themselves, and Which 
is not to be subject to any unlooked for and sudden interruption conse- 
quent upon some unforeseen move in the game of politics in England. 
Hitherto the course of policy adopted by the English government towards 
this colony has had reference to the state of parties in England, instead 
of the wants and circumstances of the province j neither party could cal- 
culate upon a successful result to their struggles for arty particular ob- 
ject, because, though they might be able to estimate accurately enough 
their strength in the colony, they could not tell how soon some hidden 
spring might be put in motion in the Colonial-office in England which 
would defeat their best laid plans, and render utterly unavailing whole 
years of patient effort. 



The Eastern Provinces and Newfoundland. 

Though I have stated ray opinion that my inquiries would have been 
very incomplete had they been confined to the two Canadas, the inform- 
ation which I am enabled to communicate with respect to the other North 
American colonies is necessarily very limited. As, however, in these 
provinces, with the exception of Newfoundland, there are no such dis. 
contents as threaten the disturbance of the public tranquillity, I do not 

K 



74 

think it necessary to institute any minute inquiries into the details of the 
various departments of government. It is only necessary that I should 
state my impression of the general working of the government in these 
colonies, in order that if institutions similar to those of the disturbed 
provinces should here appear to be tending to similar results, a common 
remedy may be devised for the impending as well as for existing disor- 
ders. On this head I have obtained much useful information from the 
communications which I had with the lieutenant governors of these col. 
onies, as well as with individuals connected with them, but above all, 
from the frequent and lengthened discussions which passed between me 
and the gentlemen who composed the deputations sent to me last autumn 
from each of the three eastern provinces, for the purpose of discussing 
the principles as well as details of a plan of general government for the 
whole of the British North American colonies. It was most unfortunate 
that the events of temporary, but pressing importance which compelled my 
return to England interrupted those discussions ; but the delegates with 
whom I had the good fortune to carry them on, were gentlemen of so 
much ability, so high in station, and so patriotic in their views, that their 
information could not fail to give me a very fair view of the working of 
the colonial constitution under somewhat different circumstances in each. 
I insert in the Appendix a communication which I received from one of 
those gentlemen, Mr. Young, a leading and very active member of the 
House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, respecting that province. 

It is not necessary, however, that I should enter into any lengthened 
account of the nature or working of the form of government established 
in these provinces, because in my account of Lower Canada I have des- 
cribed the general characteristics of the system common to all, and ad- 
duced the example of these provinces in illustration of the defects of 
their common system. In all these provinces we find representative go- 
vernment coupled with an irresponsible executive; we find the same 
constant collision between the two branches of the government ; the same 
abuse of the powers of the representative bodies, owing to the anomaly 
of their position, aided by the want of good municipal institutions ; and 
the same constant interference of the imperial administration in matters 
which should be left wholly to the provincial governments. And if in 
these provinces there is less formidable discontent and less obstruction 
to the regular course of government, it is because in them there has been 
recently a considerable departure from the ordinary course of the colo- 
nial system, and a nearer approach to sound constitutional practice. 

This is remarkably the case in New Brunswick, a province which ^as 
till a short time ago one of the most constantly harrassed by collisions 
between the executive and legislative powers ; the collision has now been 
in part terminated by the concession of all the revenues of the province 
to the Assembly. The policy of this concession, with reference to the 
extent and mode in which it was made, will be discussed in the separate 
Report on the disposal and management of public lands, but the policy, 
of the government in this matter has at any rate put an end to disputes 
about the revenue which were on the point of producing a constant par- 
liamentary conflict between the Crown and the Assembly in many res- 
pects like that which has subsisted in Lower Canada ; but a more im. 
portant advance has been made towards the practice of the British con- 
stitution in a recent change which had been made in the executive and 
legislative councils of the colony, whereby, as I found from the repre- 
sentatives of the present official body in the delegation from New Bruns- 
wick, the administrative power of the province had been taken out of the 
hands of the old official party, and placed in those of members of the 
former liberal opposition. The constitutional practice had been, in fact, 
fully carried into effect in this province ; the government had been tak- 
en out of the hands of those who could not obtain the assent of the ma- 
jority of the Assembly, and placed in the hands of those who possessed 
its confidence ; the result is, that the government of New Brunswick, 
till lately one of the most difficult in the North American colonies, is 
now the most harmonious and easy. 



75 

In Nova Scotia some, but not a complete, approximation has been made 
to the 6ame judicious course. The Government is in a minority in the 
House of Assembly, and the Assembly, and the Legislative Council do 
not perfectly harmonize. But the questions which divide parties at pre. 
sent happen really to be of no great magnitude ; and all are united and 
zealous in the great point of maintaining the connection with Great Bri- 
tain. It will be seen from Mr. Young's paper, that the questions at is- 
sue, though doubtless of very considerable importance, involve no serious 
discussion between the government and the people. The majority of the 
oppposition is stated by the official party to be very uncertain, and is ad- 
mitted by themselves to be very narrow. Both parties look with confi- 
dence to the coming general election ; and all feel the greatest reliance 
on the good sense and good intentions ©f the present lieutenant-governor, 
Sir Colin Campbell. 

I must, however, direct particular attention to the following temperate 
remarks of Mr. Young on the constitution of the Executive and Legisla- 
tive Councils : — 

" The Majority of the House of Assembly is dissatisfied with the composition 
of the Executive and Legislative Councils, and the preponderance in both of inte- 
rests which they conceive to be unfavourable to reform ; this is the true ground., 
as I take it, of the discontent that is felt. The respectability and private virtues of 
the gentlemen who sit at the two councils are admitted by all ; it is of their politi- 
cal and personal predilections that the people complain ; they desire reforming and 
liberal principles to be more fully represented and advocated there as they are in 
the Asssembly. 

" The Majority of the House, while they appreciate and have acknowledged the 
anxiety of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor to gratify their just expecta- 
tions, have also expressed their dissatisfaction that the Church of England should 
have been suffered to retain a majority in both councils notwithstanding the re- 
monstrances of the House and the precise and explicit directions of the Colonial 
Secretary. Religious dissensions are happily unknown among us, and the true 
way to prevent their growth and increase is to avoid conferring an inordinate pow- 
er on any one sect, however worthy it may be of respect and favour." 

The political history of Prince Edward's Island is contained in the 
system pursued with regard to its settlement, and the appropriation ot 
its lands, which is fully detailed in the subsequent view of that depart- 
ment of government in the North American colonies; and its past and 
present disorders are but the sad result of that fatal error which stifled its 
prosperity in the very cradle of its existence,by giving up the whole island 
to ahandful of distant proprietors Against this system, this small and pow- 
erless community has in vain been struggling for some years: a few ac 
tive and influential proprietors in London have been able to drown the 
remonstrances and defeat the efforts of a distant and petty province : for 
ordinary evils of distance are, in the instance of Prince Edward's 
Island, aggravated by the scantiness of its population, and the confined 
extent of its territory. This. island, most advantageously situated for 
the supply of the surrounding colonies, and of all the fisheries, possesses 
a soil peculiarly adapted to the production of grain ; and from its insular 
position is blessed with a climate far more genial than a great part of the 
continent which lies to*the southward. Had its natural advantages been 
turned to proper account, it might at this time have been the granary Of 
the British Colonies, and instead of barely supporting a poor and unen 
terprising population of 40,000, its mere agricultural resources would" 
according to Major Head, have maintained in abundance a population of 
at least ten times that number. Of nearly 1,400,000 acres contained in 
the island, only 10,000 nre said to be unfit for the plough. Only 100,000 
are now under cultivation. No one can mistake the cause of this Iamen. 
table waste of the means of na'ional wealth. It is the possession of 
almost the whole soil of the island by absentee proprietors, who would 
neither promote nor permit its cultivation, combined with the defective 
government which first caused and has since perpetuated the evil. The 
simple legislative remedy for all this mischief having been suggested by 
three successive Secretaries of State, has been embodied in an act 
of the Local legislature, which was reserved for the Royal assent ; and 



76 

the influence of the proprietors in London was such, that that assent was 
for a long time withheld. The question was referred to me during my 
stay in Canada ; and I believe I may have the satisfaction of attributing 
to the recommendation which I gave, in accordance with the earnest 
representations of the lieutenant-governor, Sir Charles Fitzroy, the 
adoption at last of a measure intended to remove the abuse that has so 
long retarded the prosperity of this colony. 

The present condition of these colonies presents none of those alarming 
features which mark the state of the two Canadas. The loyalty and 
attachment to the mother country which animate their inhabitants is 
warm and general. But their varied ample resources are turned to little ac- 
count. Their scanty population exhibits, in most portions of them an as- 
pect of poverty, backwardness, and stagnation ; and wherever a better state 
of things is visible, the improvement is generally to be ascribed to the 
influx of American settlers or capitalists. Major Head describes bis 
journey through a great part of Nova Scotia as exhibiting the melancholy 
spectacle of " half the tenements abandoned, and lands everywhere 
falling into decay ;'♦ *' and the lands," he tells us, «• that were purchased 
thirty and forty years ago, at 5s. an acre, are now offered for sale at 3s." 
•• The people of Prince Edward's Island are," he says, »• permitting Ameri- 
cans to take out of their hands all their valuable fisheries, from sheer want 
of capital to employ their own population in them." " The country on the 
noble river, St. John's," he states, " possesses all that is requisite, except 
' that animation of business which constitutes the value of a new settle- 
ment.' " But the most striking indication of the backward state of these 
provinces is afforded by the amount of the population. These provinces 
among the longest settled on the North American Continent, contain 
nearly 30,000,000 of acres, and a population estimated at the highest, at 
no more than 365,000 souls, giving only one inhabitant for every 80 
acres. In New Brunswick, out of 16,500,000 acres, it is estimated that 
at least 15,000,000, are fit for cultivation; and the population being 
estimated at no more than 140,000, there is not one inhabitant for 100 
acres of cultivated land. 

It is a singular and melancholy feature in the condition of these pro- 
vinces, that the resources rendered of so little avail to the population of 
Great Britain, are turned to better account by the enterprising inhabi- 
tants of the United States. While the emigration from the province is 
large and constant, the adventurous farmers of New England cross the 
frontier, and occupy the best farming lands. Their fishermen enter our 
bays and rivers, and in some cases monopolize the occupations of our 
own unemployed countrymen ; and a great portion of the trade of the 
St. John's is in their hands. Not only do the citizens of a foreign na. 
tion do this, but they do it, with British capital. Major Head states, 
" that an American merchant acknowledged to him that the capital 
with which his countrymen carried on their enterprises in the neighbor- 
hood of St John's was chiefly supplied by Great Britain ; and," be adds, 
as a fact, within his own knowledge, " that wealthy capitalists at Hali- 
fax, desirous of an investment of thoir money, preferred lending it in the 
United States to applying it to speculation in New Brunswick, or to 
lending it to their own countrymen in that Province." 

I regret to say that Major Head also gives the same account respecting 
the difference between the aspect of things in these provinces and the bor- 
dering state of Maine. On the other side of the line, good roads, good 
schools, and thriving farms afford a mortifying contrast to the condition 
in which a British subject finds the neighbouring possessions of the British 
Crown. 

With respect to the colony of Newfoundland, I have been able to ob- 
tain no information whatever, except from sources open to the public at 
large. The Assembly ef that island signified their intention of making 
an appeal to me respecting some differences with the governor, which 
had their immediate origin in a dispute with a judge. Owing probably to 
the uncertain and tardy means of communication between Quebec and 
that island, I received no further communication on this or any other 



77 

subject until after my arrival in England, when I received an address ex- 
pressive of regret at my departure. 

I know nothing, therefore, of the state of things in Newfoundland, 
except that there is and long has been the ordinary colonial collision be- 
tween the representative body on one side and the executive on the other ; 
that the representatives have no influence on the composition or the pro- 
ceedings of the executive government and that the dispute is now car. 
ried on, as in Canada, by impeachments of various public officers on one 
hand and prorogations on the other. I am inclined to think that the cause 
of these disorders it to be found in the same constitutional defects as those 
which I have signalised in the rest ofthe North American colonies. If it be 
true that there exists in this island a state of society which renders it 
unadvisable that the whole of the local government should be entirely 
left to thejinhabitants, I believe that it would be much better to incorporate 
this colony with a larger community, than to attempt to continue the 
present experiment of governing it by a constant collision of constitu- 
tional powers. 



Disposal of the Public Lands— Emigration. 

I have mentioned the peculiar importance which, in newly settled so- 
cieties, is attached to works for creating and improving the means of 
communication. But in such communities, and especially when only a 
small proportion of the land has been occupied by settlers, there is a 
still more momentous subject of public concern. I allude to an operation 
of Government, which has a paramount influence over the happiness of 
individuals and the progress of society towards wealth and greatness. — 
I am speaking of the disposal, by the government, of the lands of the 
new country. In old countries no such matter ever occupies public at. 
tention ; in new colonies, planted on a fertile and extensive territory, 
this is the object of the deepest moment to all, and the first business of 
the government. Upon the manner in which this business is conduct, 
ed it may almost be said that every thing else depends. If lands are not 
bestowed on the inhabitants and new comers with a generous hand, the 
society endure the evils of an old and over.peopled state, with the super, 
added inconveniences that belong to a wild country. They are pinched 
for room even in the wilderness, are prevented from choosing the most 
fertile soils and favourable situations, and are debarred from cultivating 
that large extent of soil, in proportion to the hands at work, which can 
alone compensate , in quantity of produce, for the rude nature of hus. 
bandry in the wilderness. If, on the other hand, the land is bestowed 
with careless profusion, great evils of another kind are produced. Large 
tracts become the property of individuals, who leave their lands unset, 
tied and untouched. Deserts are thus interposed between the industri- 
ous settlers; the natural difficulties of communication are greatly enhan. 
ced : the inhabitants are not merely scattered over a wide space of coun- 
try, but are separated from each other by impassable wastes ; the culti- 
vator is cut off or far more removed from a market in which to dispose 
of his surplus produce and procure other commodities ; and the greatest 
obstacles exist to co-operation in labour, to exchange, to the division of 
employments, to combination for municipal or other public purposes, to 
the growth of towns, to public worship, to regular education, to the 
spread of news, to the acquisition of common knowledge, and even to 
the civilizing influences of mere intercourse for amusement. Monoton. 
ous and stagnant indeed must ever be the state of a people who are per- 
manently condemned to such a separation from each other. If, more, 
over, the land of a new country is so carelessly surveyed that the boun. 
daries of property are incorrectly or inadequately defined, the govern- 
ment lays up a store of mischievous litigation for the people. Whatever 
delay takes place in perfecting the titles of individuals to lands alienated 
by the government, oceasions equal uncertainty and insecurity of pro- 



78 

perly. If the acquisition of land, in whatever quantities, is made diffi- 
cult or troublesome, or is subjected to any needless uncertainty or delay, 
applicants are irritated, settlement is hindered, and immigration to the 
colony is discouraged, as emigration from it is promoted. Jf very differ- 
ent methods of proceeding have effect in the same colony, or in differ- 
ent parts of the same group of colonies, the operation of some can 
scarcely fail to interfere with or counteract the operation of others ; so 
that the object of the government must somewhere, or at some time, be 
defeated. And frequent changes of system are sure to be very injurious, 
not only by probably displeasing those who either obtain land just be- 
fore, or desire to obtain some just alter, each change, but also by giving 
a character of irregularity, uncertainty, and even mystery, to the most 
important proceeding of government. In this way settlement and emi- 
gration are discouraged, inasmuch as the people, both of the colony and 
of the mother country, are deprived of all confidence in the permanency 
of any system, and of any familiar acquaintance with any of the tempo- 
rary methods. It would be easy to cite many other examples of the in- 
fluence of government in this matter. I will mention but one more 
here. If the disposal of public lands is administered partially — with fa- 
vour to particular persons or classes — a sure result is, the anger of all 
who do not benefit by such favouritism (the far greater number, of 
course,) and consequently, the general unpopularity of the Government. 

Under suppositions the reverse of these, the best, instead of the worst, 
effects would be produced ; a constant and regular supply of new land in 
due proportion to the wants of a population increasing by births and im- 
migration ; all the advantages to which facilities of transport and com- 
munication are essential ; certainty of limits and security of title to pro- 
perty in land ; the greatest facilities in acquiring the due quantity ; the 
greatest encouragements to immigration and settlement; the most rapid 
progress of the people in material comfort and social improvement, and 
a general sense of obligation to the government. What a contrast do 
the two pictures present ! Neither of them is over coloured ; and a mere 
glance at both suffices to show that in the North American Colonies of 
England, as in the United States, the function of authority most full of 
good or evil consequences has been the disposal of public land. 

Impressed, before my departure from England, with a sense of the 
great importance of this subject, and indulging a hope, founded on the 
very remarkable success of a new method of disposing of public lands 
in your Majesty's Australian Colonies, that I might be able to recom- 
mend beneficial reforms in the North American Provinces, I took pre- 
cautions for instituting a thoroughly efficient inquiry into the whole sub- 
ject generally and in detail. And I was the more disposed to do this, 
because while an inquiry by a select-committee of the House of Commons 
in 1836 furnished abundant information on the subject, as respects most 
parts of your Majesty's colonial empire, the North American Provinces 
had been specifically excluded from that inquiry ; and I could not obtain 
in England any authentic, or at least sufficient, information as to the dis- 
posal of public lands in any of them. Within a very short time after my 
arrival in Canada the expediency of a searching inquiry into the subject 
became more than ever apparent to me. A common belief in the great 
extent of my powers revived innumerable complaints of abuse, and ap- 
plications for justice or favour, which had slumbered during previous 
years. During my residence in the Canadas, scarcely a day passed with- 
out my receiving some petition or representation relating to the Crown 
Lands Department ; and matters belonging to this branch of government 
necessarily occupied a far larger proportion than any other of my cor- 
respondence with the Secretary of State. The information which I now 
possess was chiefly obtained by means of a commission of inquiry, which, 
having regard to the probable advantages of an uniform system for the 
whole of- British North America, and to the deep and universal interest 
taken in this subject by the colonists, 1 issued in your Majesty's name, 
and made applicable to all the provinces. Minutes of the evidence given 
before the commissioners are appended to the present report, together 



79 

wilh a separate report, containing the outline of a plan for the future 
administration of this all-influential department of government. If that 
plan or any other founded on similar principles, should be adopted by 
your Majesty and the Imperial Legislature, I do firmly believe that an 
impulse will be given to the prosperity of your Majesty's N. A. posses, 
sions surpassing what their most sanguine well-wisher, if unacquainted 
with the facts, would be capable of imagining ; and more calculated than 
any other reform whatever to attach the people of British North Ameri- 
ca to your Majesty's throne, and to cement and perpetuate an intimate 
connection between the colonies and the mother country. I shall have 
to return to this point hereafter. I have mentioned it here for the pur- 
pose of inviting your Majesty's attention, and awakening that of your 
ministers and of Parliament to a theme which, however, little it has 
hitherto interested the imperial government, is the object of constant and 
earnest discussion in the colonies. 

In the United States, ever since the year 1796, the disposal of public 
land not already appropriated to particular states, has been strictly regu- 
lated by a law of Congress ; not by different laws for the various parts 
of the country, but by one law for the whole of the public lands, and a 
law which we may judge to have been conducive to the prosperity of the 
people, both from its obvious good effects, and from its almost unques- 
tioned continuance for so many years. In the British North American 
colonies, with one partial exception, there never has been, until quite 
recently, any law upon the subject. The whole of the public lands have 
been deemed the property of the Crown, and the whole of the adminis. 
tration for disposing of them to individuals, with a view to settlement 
has been cenducted by officers of the Crown, under instructions from 
the Treasury or the Colonial Department in England. The provincial 
assemblies, except quite recently in New Brunswick and Upper Canada, 
have never had any voice in this matter ; nor is the popular controul in 
those two cases much more than nominal. The imperial parliament has 
never interfered but once, when, leaving all other things untouched it 
enacted the unhappy system of " Clergy Reserves." With these very 
slight exceptions, the Lords of the Treasury and Colonial Secretary of 
State for the time being have been the only legislators ; and the provin- 
cial agents of the Colonial Secretary, responsible to him alone, have 
been the sole executors. 

The system of the United States appears to combine all the chief re 
quisites of the greatest efficiency. It is uniform throughout the vast fe- 
deration ; it is unchangeable, save by Congress, and has never been ma- 
terially altered ; it renders the acquisition of new land easy, and yet, by 
means of a price, restricts appropriation to the actual wants of the set- 
tler ; it is so simple as to be readily understood ; it provides for accurate 
surveys and against needless delays ; it gives an instant and secure title ; 
and it admits of no favouritism, but distributes the public property 
amongst all classes and persons upon precisely equal terms. That sys- 
tem has promoted an amount of immigration and settlement of which the 
history of the world affords no other example ; and it has produced to 
the United States a revenue which has averaged about half a million 
sterling per annum, and has amounted in one twelvemonth to about 
four millions sterling, or more than the whole expenditure of the federal 
government. 

In the North American colonies there never has been any system. 

Many different methods have been practised, and this not "only in the 
different colonies, but in every colony at different times, and within the 
same colony at the same time. The greatest diversity and most frequent 
alteration would almost seem to have been the objects in view. In only 
one respect has there been uniformity. Every where the greatest pro- 
fusion has taken place, so that in all the colonies, and nearly in every 
part of each colony, more, and very much more land has been alienated 
by the government than the grantees had at the time, or now have the 
means of reclaiming from a state of wilderness ; and yet, in all the colo- 
nies until lately, and in some of them still, it is either very difficult or 



80 

next to impossible for a person of no influence to obtain any of the pub* 
lie land. More or less in all the colonies, and in some of them to an 
extent which would not be credited it the fact were not established by 
unquestionable testimony, the surveys have been inaccurate, and the 
boundaries, or even the situation of estates, are proportionably uncer- 
tain. Everywhere needless delays have harassed and exasperated appli- 
cants ; and everywhere, more or less, I am sorry but compelled to add, 
gross favouritism has prevailed in the disposal of public lands. I have 
mentioned but a part of the evils, grievances, and abuses of which your 
Majesty's subjects in the colonies justly complain, as having arisen from 
maladministration in this department. Those evils remain wholly un- 
remedied, most of those grievances are unredressed, and not a few of 
those abuses are unreformed at this hour. Their present existence has 
been forced on my conviction by indisputable evidence. If they had 
passed away, I should scarcely have alluded to them. If I had any hope 
of seeing them removed, otherwise than by means of giving them au- 
thentic publicity, I should have hesitated to speak of them as I have 
done. As it is, I should ill perform the duty which your Majesty was 
pleased to confide to me, if I failed to describe them in the plainest 
terms. 

The results of long misgovernment in this department are such as 
might have been anticipated by any person understanding the subject. — 
The administration of the public lands, instead of always yielding a re- 
revenue, cost for a long while more than it produced. But this is, I 
venture to think, a trifling consideration when compared with others. — 
There is one in particular which has occurred to every observant travel- 
ler in these regions, which is a constant theme of boast in the states 
bordering upon our colonies, and a subject of loud complaint within the 
colonies. I allude to the striking contrast which is presented between 
the American and the British sides of the frontier line in respect to eve. 
ry sign of productive industry, increasing wealth, and progressive civil- 
ization. 

By describing one side, and reversing the picture, the other would be 
also described. On the American side all is activity and bustle. The 
forest has been widely cleared ; every year numerous settlements are 
formed, and thousands of farms are created out of the waste ; the coun- 
try is intersected by common roads ; canals and railroads are finished, 
or in the course of formation ; the ways of communication and trans, 
port are crowded with people, and enlivened by numerous carriages and 
large steamboats. The observer is surprised at the number of harbours 
on the lakes, and the number of vessels they contain ; while bridges, 
artificial landing-places, and commodious wharves are formed in all di- 
rections as soon as required. Good houses, warehouses, mills, inns, 
villages, towns, and even great cities, are almost seen to spring up out 
of the desert. Every village has its school-house and place of public 
worship. Every town has many of both, with its township buildings, 
its book stores, and probably one or two banks and newspapers ; and 
the cities, with their fine churches, their great hotels, their exchanges, 
court-houses and municipal halls, of stone or marble, so new and fresh 
as to mark the recent existence of the forest where they now stand, 
would be admired in any part of the old world. On the British side of 
the line, with the exception of a few favoured spots, where some ap- 
proach to American prosperity is apparent, all seems waste and deso. 
late. There is but one railroad in all British America, and that, running 
between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, is only fifteen miles 
long. The ancient city of Montreal, which is naturally the commercial 
capital of the Canadas, will not bear the least comparison, in any res- 
pect, with Buffalo, which is a creation of yesterday. But it is not in 
the difference between the larger towns on the two sides that we shall 
find the best evidence of our own inferiority. That painful but unde - 
niable truth is most manifest in the country districts through which the 
line of national separation passes for 1,000 miles. There, on the side 
of both the Canadas, and also of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, a 



widely scattered population, poor, and apparently unenterprising, though; 
hardy and industrious, separated from each other by tracts of interven- 
ing forest, without towns and markets, almost without loads, living in 
mean houses, drawing little more than a rude subsistence from ill-culti- 
vated land, and seomingly incapable of improving their condition, pre- 
sent the most instructive contrast to their enterprising and thriving 
neighbours on the American side. I was assured that in the eastern 
townships of Lower Canada, bordering upon the line, it is a common 
practice for settlers when they wish to meet, to enter the state of Ver- 
mont, and making use of the roads there for the purpose of reaching 
their destination in the British province. Major Head, the assistant 
commissioner of crown lands' inquiry, whom I sent to New Brunswick, 
states, that when travelling near the frontier line of that province and the 
state of Maine, now on one side and then on the other, he could always 
tell on which side he was by the obvious superiority of the American- 
settlements in every respect. Where the two countries are separated by 
the St. Lawrence and the lakes, the difference is less perceptible; but 
not less in fact, if I may believe the concurrent statements of numerous 
eye-witnesses, who had no motive for deceiving me. For further cor- 
roboration, I might refer indeed to numerous and uncontradicted publi- 
cations ; and there is one proof of this sort so remarkable, that I am in- 
duced to notice it specially. A highly popular work, which is known to 
be from the pen of one of your Majesty's chief functionaries in Nova 
Scotia, abounds in assertions and illustrations of the backward and stag- 
nant condition of that province, and the great superiority of neighbour- 
ing American settlements. Although the author, with a natural disin- 
clination to question the excellence of government, attributes this mor- 
tifying circumstance entirely to the folly of the people, in neglecting 
their farms to occupy themselves with complaining of grievances and 
abuses^ he leaves no doubt of the fact. 

This view is confirmed by another fact equally indisputable. Through 
out the frontier, from Amherstburgh to the ocean, the market value of 
land is much greater on the American than on the British side. In not 
a few parts ofthefronlier this difference amounts to as much as a thousand 
per cent., and in some cases even more. The average difference, as be- 
tween Upper Canada and the States of New York and Michigan, is noto- 
riously several hundred per cent. Mr. Hastings Kerr, of Quebec, whose 
knowledge of the value of land in Lower Canada is generally supposed to 
be more extensive and accurate than that of any other person, states that 
the price of wild land in Vermont and New Hampshire, close to the line, 
is five dollars per acre, and in the adjoining British townships only one 
dollar. On this side the line a very large extent of land is wholly un- 
saleable, even at such low prices ; while on the other side property is con. 
tinually changing hands. The price of two or three shillings per acre 
would purchase immense tracts in Lower Canada and New Brunswick. 
In the adjoining states it would be difficult to obtain a single lot for less : 
than as many dollars. In and near Stanstead, a border township of Lower 
Canada, and one of the most improved, forty-eight thousand acres of fine 
land, of which Governor Sir R. S. Milne obtained a grant to himself in 
1810, was recently sold at the price of two shillings per acre. Mr. Stay- 
ner, the Deputy Postmaster-General, one of the largest proprietors of 
wild land in Lower Canada says: — " Twenty years ago, or thereabout, I 
purchased wild land at what was then considered alow price, in the natural 
hope that it would be gradually increasing in value, and that, whenever 
I might choose to sell, it would be at such a profit as would afford me a 
fair return for the use of the money employed. So far, however, from 
realising this expectation, I now find, that after the lapse of so many 
years, when the accumulated interest upon the money invested has in- 
creased the cost of the land 150 per cent. — I say I find that I could not 
if compelled to sell this land obtain more for it than it originally cost 
me." I learn from others besides Mr. Kerr, but quote his words, that " the 
system pursued in grantiing Crown Lands in L ower Canada has been such; 
as to render itirapossible to obtain money on mortgage of land,because there 

L 



82 . 

J8 no certainty as to the value : when a sale ia furced, there may be a par feci 
glut in the market, and no purchasers." Similar statements might be cit- 
ed in abundance. It might bo supposed by persons unacquainted with 
the frontier country, that the soil on the American side is of very supe- 
rior natural fertility. I am positively assured that this is by no means 
the case ; but that on the whole, superior natural fertility belongs to the 
British territory. In Upper Canada the whole of the great peninsula 
between Lakes Erie and Huron, comprising nearly half the available 
land of the province, consists of gently undulating alluvial soil, and with 
a smaller proportion of inferior land than probably any other tract of sim- 
ilar extent in that part of North Ameriea, is generally considered the bes t 
grain country on that continent. The soil of the border townships of 
Lower Canada is allowed, on all hands, to be superior to that of the bor- 
der townships of New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire ; while the 
lands of New Brunswick, equal in natural fertility to those of Maine, 
enjoy superior natural means of communication. I do not believe that 
the" universal difference in the value of land can any where be fairly at- 
tributed to natural causes. 

Still less can we attribute to such causes another circumstance, which 
in some measure accounts for the different values of property, and which 
has a close relation to the subject of the public lands — I mean the great 
amount of re-emigration from the British colonies to the border states. 
This is a notorious fact. Nobody denies it ; almost every colonist speaks 
of it with regret. What the proportion may be of those emigrants from 
the United Kingdom who, soon after their arrival, remove to the United 
States, it would be very difficult to ascertain precisely. Mr. Bell For- 
syth, of Quebec, who has paid much attention to the subject, and 
with the best opportunities of observing correctly in both the Cana- 
das, estimates that proportion at sixty per cent, of the whole. Mr. 
Hawke, the chief agent for emigrants in Upper Canada, calculates that 
out of two thirds of the emigrants by the St. Lawrence who reach that, 
province, one-fourth re-emigrate chiefly to nettle in the States. It would 
appear, however, that the amount of emigration from Upper Canada, 
Whether of new comers or others, must be nearer Mr. Forsyth's estimate. 
The population was reckoned at 200,000 in January 1830. The increase 
by births since then should have been at least three percent, per annum, 
or 54,000. Mr. Hawke states the number of immigrants from Lower Ca- 
nada, since 1829, to have been 165,000; allowing that these also would 
have increased at the rate of three per cent, per annum, the whole in- 
crease by immigration and births should have been nearly 200,000. But 
Mr. Hawke's estimate of emigrants takes no account of the very conside- 
rable number who enter the province by way of New York and the Erie 
Canal. Reckoning these at only 50,000, which is probably under the 
truth, and making no allowance for their increase by births, the entire 
population of Upper Canada should now have been 500,000, whereas it 
is, according to the most reliable estimates, not over 400,000. It would 
therefore appear, making all allowance for errors in this calculation, that 
the number of people who have emigrated from Upper Canada to the 
United States, since 1829, must be equal to more than half of the num- 
ber who have entered the province during the eight years. Mr. Baillie, 
the present Commissioner of Crown lands in New Brunswick, says, " a 
great many emigrants arrive in the province, but they generally proceed 
to the United States, as there is not sufficient encouragement for them 
in this province." Mr, Morris, the present commissioner of Crown 
lands, and surveyor.general of Nova Scotia, speaks in almost similar 
terms of the emigrants who reach that province by way of Halifax. 

I am far from asserting that the very inferior value of land in the Bri- 
tish colonies, and the re-emigration of immigrants, are altogether occa- 
sioned by mismanagement in the disposal of public lands. Other defects 
and errors of government must have had a share in producing these la- 
mentable results ; but I may speak the opinion of all the more intelligent 
and, let me add, some of the most loyal of your Majesty's subject's in 
North America, when t say that this has been the principal cause of 



83. 

these great evils. This opinion rests upon their personal acquaintance 
with numerous facts. Some ot these facts I will now state. They have 
been selected from a much greater number, an being peculiarly calculated 
to illustrate the faults ot the system, its influence on the condition of the 
people, and the necessity ot thorough reform.. I may add, that many of 
tbem form the subject of dispatches which I have addressed to your Ma- 
jesty's Secretary of State. 

I have observed before that nearly all of the different methods pursued 
by the government have had one mischievous tendency in particular ; 
they have tended to place a vast extent of land out of the control of go. 
vernment, and yet to retain it in a state of wilderness. This evil has 
been produced in all the colonies alike, to what extent, and with what 
injurious consequences, will be made apparent by the following illustra- 
tive statements. 

By official returns which accompany this report, it appears that out of 
about 17,000,000 of acres comprised within the surveyed districts of 
Upper Canada, less than 1,600,000 are yet unappropriated, and this 
amount includes 450,000 acres the reserve for roads, leaving less than 
1,200,000 acres open to grant; and of this remnant 500,000 acres are re- 
quired to satisfy claims for grants founded on pledges by the govern- 
ment. In the opinion of Mr. Radenhurst, the really acting surveyor-ge- 
nerai, the remaining 700,000 consist for the most part of land inferior 
in position or quality. It may almost be said» therefore, that the whole 
of the public lands in Upper Canada have been alienated by the govern- 
ment. In Lower Canada, out of 6,169,963 acres in the surveyed town, 
ships, nearly 4,000,000 acres have been granted or sold ; and there are, 
unsatisfied but indisputable claims for grants to the amount of about 500,- 
000. In Nova Scotia nearly 6,000,000 of acres have been granted, and in 
the opinion of theSurveyor-General only about one-eighth of the landwhich 
remains to the Crown, or 300,000 acres, is available for the purpose of 
settlement. The whole of Prince Edward's Island, about 1,400,000 acres, 
was alienated in one day. In New Brunswick 4,400,000 acres have 
been granted or sold, leaving to the Crown about 11,000,000 of which 
5,500,000 acres are considered fit for immediate settlement. 

Of the land- granted in Upper and Lower Canada, upwards of 3,000,- 
000 acres consist of " clergy reserves," being for the most part lots of 
200 acres each, scattered at regular interval over the whole face of the 
townships, and remaining, with few exceptions, entirely wild to this day. 
The evils produced by the system of reserving land for the clergy have 
become notorious, even in this country ; and a common opinion I believe 
prevails here, not only that the system has been abandoned, but that 
measures of remedy have been adopted. This opinion is incorrect in both 
points. In respect of every new township in both provinces reserves are 
still made for the clergy, just as before ; and the act of the Imperial Par 
liament, which permits the sale of clergy reserves, applies to only one- 
fourth of the quantity. The select committee of the House of Commons 
on the civil government of Canada reported, in 1828, that •• these reserved 
lands, as they are at present distributed over the country, retard more 
than any other circumstance the improvement of the colony, lying ag 
they do in detached portions of each township, and intervening between 
the occupations of actual settlers, who have no means of cutting roads 
through the woods and morasses, which thus separate them from their 
neighbours." This description is perfectly applicable to the presentstate 
of things. In no perceptible degree has the evil been remedied. 

The system of clergy reserves was established by the act of 1791, com- 
monly called the Constitutional Act, which directed that, in respect of 
all grants made by the Crown, a quantity equal to one-seventh of the 
land so granted should be reserved for the clergy. A quantity equal to 
one-seventh of all grants would be one-eighth of each township, or of all 
the public land. Instead of this proportion, the practice has been, ever 
since the act passed, and in the clearest violation of its provisions, to set 
apart for the clergy in Upper Canada a seventh of all the land, which is 
a quantity equal to a sixth of the land granted. There have been appro^ 



84 

printed for this purpose 300,000 acres, which legally, it is manifest, be- 
long to the public. And of the amount for which clergy reserves have 
been sold in that province, namely, £317,000 (of which about £100,000 
have been already received and invested in the English funds) the sum of 
about £45,000 should belong to the public. 

In Lower Cariada, the same violation of the law has taken place, with 
this difference — that upon every sale of Crown and clergy reserves, a 
fresh reserve for the clergy has been made, equal to a fifth of such 
reserves. The result has been the appropriation (or the clergy of 673,- 
.567 acres, instead of 446,000, being an excess of 227,559 acres, or half as 
much again as they ought to have received. The Lower Canada fund 
already produced by sales amounts to £50,000, of which therefore, a third, 
or about £16,000, belong to the public. If, without any reform of this 
abuse, the whole of the unsold clergy reserves in both provinces should 
fetch the average price at which such lands have hitherto sold, the 
public would be wronged to the amount of about £280,000 ; and the 
reform of this abuse will produce a certain and almost immediate gain to 
the public of £60,000. In referring, for further explanation of this 
subjeet, to a paper in the appendix which has been drawn up by Mr. 
Hanson, a member of the commission of inquiry which I appointed for 
all the colonies, I am desirous of stating my own conviction that the 
clergy have had no part in this great misappropriation of the public 
property, but that it has arisen entirely from heedless misconception, or 
some error, of the civil government of both provinces. 

The great objection to reserves for the clergy is, that those for whom 
the land is set apart never have attempted, and never could 
successfully attempt, to cultivate or settle the property, and that, by 
that special appropriation, so much land is withheld from settlers, and 
kept in a state of waste, to the serious injury of ali settlers in its neigh- 
bourhood. But it would be a great mistake to suppose that this is 
the only practice by which such injury has been, and still is, inflicted 
on actual settlers. In the two Canadas, especially, the practice of re- 
warding, or attempting to reward, public services by grants of public 
land, has produced, and is still producing, a degree of injury to actual 
settlers which it is|difflcult to conceive without having witnessed it. 
The very principle of such grants is bad, inasmuch as, under any 
circumstances, they must lead to an amount of appropriation beyond 
the wants of the community, and greatly beyond the proprietors means of 
cultivation and settlement. In both the Canadas, not only has this princi- 
ple been pursued with reckless profusion, but the local executive govern-* 
ments have managed, by violating or evading the instructions which 
they received from the Secretary of State, to add incalculably to the 
mischiefs that would have arisen at all events. 

In Upper Canada, 3,200,000 acres have been granted to " U. E. Loy- 
alists," being refugees from the United States who settled in the province 
before 1787, and their children ; 730,000 acres to militia men, 450,000 
acres to discharged soldiers and sailors, 255,000 acres to magistrates and 
barristers, 136,000 acres to executive councilors and their families, 
50,000 acres to five legislative councillors and their families, 36,900 
acres to clergymen as private property, 264,000 acres to persons contract- 
ing to make surveys, 92,526 acres to officers of the army and navy, 500,- 
000 acres for the endowment of schools, 48,520 acres to Colonel Talbot, 
12,000 acres to the heirs of General Brock, and 12,000 acres to Doctor 
Mountain, a former Bishop of Quebec ; making altogether, with the clergy 
reserves, nearly half of all the surveyed land in the province. In Lower 
Canada.exclusively of grants to refugee loyalists,as to the amount of which 
the Crown Lands'Department could furnish me with no information, 450,- 
000 acres have been granted to militiamen, to executive councillors 72,000 
acres, to Governor Milne abou', 48,000 acres, to Mr.Cushing and another 
upwards of 100,000 acres (as a reward for giving inlormation in a case 
of high treason), to officers and soldiers 200,000 acres, and to " leaders 
of townships" 1,457,209 acres, making -altogether, with the clergy 
resorves, rather more than half of the surveyed lands originally at the dis- 
posal of tho Crown. 



In Upper Canada, a very small proportion (perhaps less than a tenth) 
of the land thus granted has been even oceupied by settlers, much less 
reclaimed and cultivated. In Lower Canada, with the exception of a 
few townships bordering on the American frontier, which have been 
comparatively weil settled, in despite of the proprietors, by American 
squatters, it may be said that nineteen-twentieths of these grants are still 
unsettled, and in a perfectly wild state. 

No other result could have been expected in the case of those classes 
of grantees whose station would preclude them from settling in the wil- 
derness, and whose means would enable them to avoid exertion for giv- 
ing immediate value to th«ir grants ; and unfortunately, the land which 
was intended for persons of a poorer order, who might be expected to 
improve it by their labour, has, for the most part, fallen into the hands of 
land-jobbers of the class just mentioned, who have never thought of set- 
tling in person, and who retain the land in its present wild state, specu- 
lating upon its acquiring a value at some distant day. when the demand 
for land shall have increased through the increase of population. 

In Upper Canada, says Mr. Bouiton, himself a great speculator and 
holder of wild land : — 

" The plan of granting large tracts of land to gentlemen who have neither the 
muscular strength to go into the wilderness, nor, perhaps, the pecumarj means to 
improve their grants, has been the means of a large part of the country remaining 
in a state of wilderness. The system of granting land to the children of U. E. 
Loyalists has not been productive of the benefits expected from it. A very small 
proportion of the land granted to them has been occupied or improved. A great 
proportion of such grants were to unmarried females, who very readily disposed 
of them for a small consideration, frequently from £2 to £5 for a grantof 200 
acres. The gratis made to young men were also frequently sold for a very small 
consideration; they generally had parents with whom they lived, and were there- 
fore not disposed to move to their grants of lands, but preferred remaining with 
their families. I do not think one- tenth of the lands granted to U. E Loyalists 
has been occupied by the persons to whom they were granted, and in a great pro- 
portion of cases not occupied at all." 

Mr. Radenhurst says : — 

" The general price of these grants was from a gallon of rum up to perhaps £6, 
so that wliile millions of acres were granted in this way, the settlement of the 
Province was not advanced, nor the advantage of the grantee secured in the man- 
ner that we may suppose to have been contemplated by government." 

He also mentions, amongst extensive purchasers of these grants, Mr. 
Hamilton, a Member of the Legislative Council, who bought about 100,- 
000 acres ; Chief Justices Emslie and Powell, and Solicitor-General 
Grey, who purchased 20,000 to 50,000 acres ; and states that several 
members of the Executive and Legislative Councils, as well as of the 
House of Assembly, were " very large purchasers." 

In Lower Canada, the grants to " Leaders and Associates" were made 
by an evasion of instructions which deserve a particular description. 

By instructions to the Local Executive immediately after the passing 
of the Constitutional Act, it was directed that — 

"Because great inconveniences had theretofore arisen in many of the colonies in 
America from the granting excessive quantities of land to particular persons <vho 
have never cultivated nor settled the same, and have thereby prevented others, 
mo're industrious, from improving such lands ; in order, therefore, to prevent the 
like inconveniences in future, no farm-lot should be granted to any person being 
master or mistress of a family in any township to be laid out which should con- 
tain more than 200 acres." 

The instructions then invest the governor with a discretionary power 
to grant additional quantities in certain cases, not exceeding 1000 acres. 
According to these instructions 200 acres should have been the general 
amount,I200 the maximum, in special cases,to be granted to any individual. 
The greater part, however, of the land (1,457,209 acres was granted, in 
fact, to individuals at the rate of from 10,000 to 50,000 to each person. 
The evasion of the regulations was managed as follows: — A petition, 
signed by from 10 to 40 or 50 persons, was presented to the Executive 
Council, praying for a grant of 1,200 acres to each person, and promis- 



86 

ing to settle the land so applied for. Such petitions were, I am inform- 
ed, always granted, the Council being perfectly aware that under a pre- 
vious agreement between the applicants (of which the form was prepar- 
ed by the Attorney General, and sold publicly by the law stationers of 
Quebec,) five-sixths of the land was to be conveyed to one of them, 
termed the leader, by whose means the grant was obtained. In most 
cases the leader obtained the whole of the land which had been nominal- 
ly applied for by fifty persons. A report of a committee of the House 
of Assembly, known to have been drawn up by the present Solicitor Ge- 
neral, speaks of this practice in the following terms : — 

" Your committee, unwilling to believe that the above mentioned evasions of his 
Majesty's gracious instructions had been practised with the knowledge, privity, 
or consent of his Majesty's servants, bound by their oaths, their honour, and their 
duty to obey them, instituted a long and patient investigation into the origin of these 
abuses. They have been painfully but irresistibly led to the conclusion that they 
were fully within the knowledge of individuals in this colony who possessed and 
abused his Majesty's confidence. The instruments by which this evasion was to 
be carried into effect were devised by his Majesty's Attorney Geneial for the time 
being, printed and publicly sold in the capital of this province ; and the principal 
intermediate agent was his Majesty's late assistant surveyor-general." 

In order to reward militiamen in Lower Canada, who had served on 
the frontier during war, the Duke of Richmond, acting, as it would ap- 
pear, under instructions from the home government, but of which no 
copy is extant in the public offices at Quebec, promised grants of land to 
many thousand persons inhabiting all parts of the province. The inten- 
tions of the home government appear to have been most praiseworthy. 
How effectually they have been defeated by the misconduct of the local 
executive, will appear from a Report on the subject in the Appendix (A,) 
and the tollowing copy of the instructions given to Commissioners whom 
I appointed in order to expedite the settlement of militia claims. I would 
also refer to the evidence of Mr. Kerr, Mr.Morin, Mr. Davidson, and Mr. 
Langevin. 

" TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF UNSETTLED MILITIA CLAIMS. 

" Castle of St. Lewis, Quebec, 12th Sept. 1838. 

" Gentlemen — I am directed by his Excellency the Governor General, in fur- 
nishing you with some instructions for your guidance in disposing of unsettled 
militia claims, to state the views which he takes of this subject, and has repre* 
sented to her Majesty's government. 

" His Excellency is of opinion that, if any reliance is to be placed on the con- 
current testimony of all from whom he has derived information on the subject, the 
report of the commissioner of crown lands and emigration, on which his recent 
proclamation is founded, contains but a faint description of the injury inflicted on 
the province, and of the cruel injustice done to the militiamen by the manner in 
which the intentions of the home government with respect to these claimants 
have been defeated by the local executive. 

" It appears to his Excellency that the intentions of the Prince Regent in a- 
warding land to those officers and men of the militia who had loyally and gallantly 
served during the last American war. were, in part, to promote the settlement of 
wild lands, and the consequent prosperity of the province, but chiefly, there can 
be no doubt, to bestow upon that body of loyal and gallant men some extraordi- 
nary recompense for the privations and dangers which they had cheerfully incur- 
red in defence of the country. His Excellency is satisfied that neither result 
was obtained in any but so slight a degree as to be scarcely worth notice. But 
the Governor-General perceives, on the other hand, that results occurred, as to the 
great majority „of cases, precisely opposite to those which the government had in 
view. The official delays and obstacles interposed between the militia claimants 
and the grants to which they were entitled — the impossibility, in many cases, of 
ever obtaining a grant, even after the most vexatious impediments and delays — 
the mode of allotting the land in such a manner, that the grant when obtained wag 
often worth nothing at all, and seldom worth the trouble and expense ol obtaining 
it — the necessity of employing and paying agents acquainted with the labyrinths 
of the crown lands and surveyor-general's departments — the expense, uncertainty, 
and harassing trouble attendant upon the pursuit of such a claim ; all these cir- 
cumstances, for which his Excellency is compelled to believe that the public offi- 
cers were alone to blame, had the effect, he is convinced, in the majority of ca- 
ses, of converting what the Prince Regent had intended as a boon into a positive 
rjury to the militiamen. He is assured, as might have been expected, that the 
militiamen disposed of their claims, often for a mere trifle, to land speculators. 



who never intended to settle upon the grants, and who have for the most part kept 
the land in a state of wilderness, thereby defeating the only other intention with 
which the home government could have determined on making the grants. From 
a careful inspection of the evidence taken on this subject from official gentlemen, 
as well as others, his Excellency is led to concur entirely in that part of the com- 
missioners' report which states that ' there has been the maximum of injury to the 
province, with the minimum of benefit to the militiamen.' 

" This crying grievance his Excellency finds has been over and over again, and 
in various forms, represented to the government, but without any attempt, as far 
as he can discover, to provide an adequate remedy for it. He is encouraged to 
hope that the measure on which he has determined may, as respects the claims 
yet unsettled, be the means of carrying into effect, however tardily, the objects 
of the Prince Regent, by conferring a considerable boon on these meritorious but 
long disappointed claimants, and conducing to the settlement, of the lands which 
may thus be alienated by the crown. 

" The Governor-general further directs me to mak9 you acquainted with his 
confident expectation that you will proceed, with the utmost dispatch not incom- 
patible with accuracy, to determine all unsettled claims ; that, in awarding orders 
to persons whose claims could not have been admitted under the original procla- 
mation, but will now be held valid, you will take care not to admit any claims ex- 
cept thijse of the six battalions, and of others who actually served for the same 
period, and precisely in the same manner as the six battalions. His Excellency 
cannot doubt, moreover, that you will spare no pains in endeavoring to secure to 
the class of militiamen the advantage which was intended for them alone, and 
which they ought long since to have received. As one means of this most desira- 
ble end, his Excellency is of opinion that you should explain to all claimants that 
the orders for a nominal amount of money which you may award, will have the 
full value of money at future sales of crown-lands, and ought therefore, to be ex 
changeable for money, if not for the whole sum named in them, still for one of 
nearly the same amount. " I am. &c. 

" Chas. Buller, Chief Secretary." 

The purposes of the home government, judging by the general instruc- 
tions which they gave to the local executive, would seem to have been 
dictated by a sincere, and also an enlightened, desire to promote the set- 
tlement and improvement of the country. As respects Upper Canada, 
instructions, dated July, 1827, established as a general rule for the dispo- 
sal of public lands in future, that free grants should be discontinued, and 
that a price should be required for land alienated by the Crown. The 
quantity of land disposed of by sale since those instructions were given, 
amounts to 100,317 acres ; the quantity disposed of during the same pe - 
riod by free grant, all in respect of antecedent claims, is about 2,000,000 
acres, being above nineteen times as much as has been disposed of ac- 
cording to the new rule. 

The instructions were obviously prepared with care for the purposes 
of establishing a new system, and placing the whole of the disposal of 
Crown lands in the hands of a commissioner, then for the first time ap 
pointed. The commissioner never assumed the control of any other 
portion ot these lands then such as were included in returns made to him 
by the surveyor-general, amounting to no more than about 300,000 acres. 
All the rest of the land open tor disposal remained, as previously, under 
the control of the surveyor-general as an agent of the government for 
locating free grants. The salary of the commissioner was JE500 a-year, 
besides fees; the whole service during ten years was the superintendence 
of the sale of 100,000 acres of wild land. The same person was also 
surveyor general of woods and forests, with a salary of .£500 a-year and 
agent for the sale of clergy reserves, with £500 a-year. 

In Lower Canada under instructions from the Treasury, dated in No- 
vemberr 1826, which were confirmed and further enforced by Lord God- 
erich in 1831, who manifestly intended to supersede the old system of free 
grants by an uniform system of sale, 450,469 acres have been sold, and 
641,039 acres have, in respect to antecedent claims, been disposed of by 
free grant, and the object of the new rule of selling was defeated by the 
large amount of free grants. Even at this moment, in the two provinces, 
where I was assured before I left England that the system ot selling had 
been uniformily established by Lord Goderich's regulations of 1831, 
there are unsettled, but probably indisputable claims for ftee grants, to thfe 



si 

amount of from 1.000,00a to 1,300,000 acres. T,,e main alteration which 
Lord Goderich's regulations would have made in the system intended to 
have been established by the Treasury instructions of 1826, was to render 
the price more restrictive of appropriation, by requiring payment in less 
time, and the payment ot interest in the meanwhile. This direction 
appears to have neen totally disregarded in both provinces. As res- 
pects Lower Canada, the head of the crown lands department gives 
the following evidence on the subject : — 

'' How did it happen that this instruction was not acted upon ? — In consequence 
of a representation from Mr. Felton, the commissioner of crown lands, to Lord 
Aylmer, the governor of the province, stating that the terms imposed were too se- 
vere, and amounted, in fact, to exacting the whole purchase money down. Lord 
Aylmer, upon this, authorised Mr. Felton to continue the former practice, and. it 
is understood, reported the circumstance to the home government. This was in 
1832, and the system of longer credit without interest continued to be acted upon 
until the receipt of Lord Glenelg's despatch of 1837, which required payment in 
ready money at the time of sale." 

I have alreadv pointed out the importance ot accurate surveys of the 
public land. Without these there can be no security of property in land, 
no certainty even as to the pjsition or boundaries of estates marked out 
in maps or named in title deeds. "In Nova Scotia," says the present 
Surveyor-General, ** there are very many instances of litigation in con- 
sequence of inaccurately defined boundaries." Mr. M'Kenzie, a drafts- 
man of the Surveyor-General's Office at Halifax, who is also employed 
to conduct surveys in the field, says, he " has found it impossible to make 
correct surveys in consequence of inaccuracy as to former lots of land, 
from which of necessity he measures, and also from surveys being inac- 
curately made by persons not qualified. In many cases, also, the boun- 
daries of land granted have never been surveyed or laid out at all. The 
present state of surveys is inadequate and injurious to the settlement of 
the land." In New Brunswick, says the present Surveyor General, M no 
survey of the province has ever been made, and the surveys of the old 
grants are extremely erroneous, and expose errors and collisions which 
could not have been supposed to exist. It frequently has occurred that 
different grants are made for the same lot of land. I think this system 
pernicious, and it will some day be very injurious. The usual practice 
cannot be relied on as giving a settler a grant of land that cannot be dis- 
turbed without great care and a greater expense than a poor settler can af- 
ford." In Upper Canada, Mr. Radenhurst asserts that " the surveys 
throughout the province generally are very inaccurate. This inaccuracy 
was produced in the first instance by the deficiency of competent persons, 
and the carelessness with which the surveys were conducted. Latterly 
the practice introduced by Sir Peregrine Maitland, in spite of the results 
being pointed out by the then Surveyor-General, of letting out the sur- 
veys to any person who was willing to contract for them for a certain 
quantity of land, produce extreme carelessness and inaccuracy, The sur- 
veyors just hurried through the township, and of course made surveys, 
which, on the ground, are found to be very inaccurate. There are instan- 
ces in which scarcely a single lot is of the dimensions or in the position 
actually assigned to it in the diagram. The consequences of this have 
been confusion and uncertainty in the possessions of almost every man, 
and no small amount of litigation." As to Lower Canada, the evidence 
is still more complete and unsatisfactory. The Commissioner of crown 
lands says, in answer to questions, " I can instance two townships, Shef- 
ford and Orford (and how many more may prove inaccurate as questions 
of boundary arise, it is impossible to say,) which are very inaccurate in 
their subdivision. On actual recent survey, it has been found that no 
one lot agrees with the diagram on record. The lines dividing the lots, 
instead of running perpendicularly according to the diagram, actually run 
diagonally, the effect of which is necessarily to displace the whole of the 
lots, upwards of 300 in number, from their true position. The lines di- 
viding the ranges are so irregular as to give to some lots two and a half 
times the contents of others, though they are all laid down in the diagram 



89 

of as equal extent ; there are lakes also which occupy nearly the whole 
of some lots that are entirely omitted. T have heard complaints of a si- 
milar nature respecting the township of Grenville. I have no reason for 
believing that the surveys of other townships are more accurate 
than those of Shefford and Orford, other than that in some parts of the 
country the same causes of error may not have existed, whether physical 
causes such as that of magnetic attraction, where there really was a sur- 
vey, or, in cases where there was no actual survey, the negligence of the 
surveyor. The inaccuracy of which I have spoken is confined to that 
part of the province which is divided into townships. There are 109 
townships of about 100 square miles each, including all the land which 
has been disposed of by the British government, except the seigniories 
which were erected by that government shortly after the conquest. Si- 
milar difficulties to those which might arise in setting a question of 
title between the Crown and an alleged squatter, arising from the inac- 
curacy of the township surveys, would extend to all grants and sales by 
the Crown, and also to all questions of title between persons claiming to 
have a grant, or to have purchased from the Crown, and alleged squatters 
on the land asserted to be theirs, and more or less to all cases in which 
different persons should claim to have received or purchased the same 
piece of land from the Crown. It is a general observation that this state 
of the Crown surveys must prove a source of interminable litigation 
hereafter; it is impossible to say how many cases may arise of double 
grants of the same land under different designations, arising from the dew 
fective state of the surveys. None of such cases have come before me 
in an official shape, but I apprehend that questions of that nature are 
waiting in great numbers until lands shall have become more valuable, 
when the Crown will be called in upon every occasion to defend its own 
grant, and, considering the state of the surveys, will be without the 
means of such defence, unless measures to prevent the evil should be 
adopted before its occurrence. In common with every person who has 
ever reflected on the subject, I consider this a subject of very high im. 
portance, and demanding the immediate attention of government." Mr. 
Daly, the secretary of the province, says :-— " An accurate survey of the 
whole of the ungranted lands in the province I believe to be extremely 
desirable and necessary to quiet doubts that have arisen in the minds of 
many new settlers as to the correctness of their boundaries." Mr. Pa- 
trick Daly, commissioned surveyor of the province, gives the following: 
evidence : 

•' You are just come to Quebec to make a representation as to the state of the* 
township of Durham ? — I am. 

11 What is the point which you wish to ascertain ? — Whether I can have authori- 
ty to establish a new line between the 6th and 7th ranges of the township of 
Durham. 

" What would be the consequence of such a change ?— In consequence of a part 
of the old range-line being found incorrect to the extent of 60 perches, whereby 
the 7th would lose about one-fifth of its dimensions, and the same amount would 
be improperly added to the 6th, the change I wish to make would set this right* 

" How did you discover that the line was incorrect ?— In consequence of having 
been employed by Captain Ployart, of Durham, to run the side lines of lot No. 15, 
in the sixth range, in order to determine the extent of his property, he being the' 
proprietor of that lot, I discovered that the line was incorrect, as I have described 
already ; and I cannot proceed to rectify the error without authority from the 
governor, or some person appointed by the governor, as we have not any laws in 
the province to enable me to make a new range-line, as the old range-line is not to 
be found, with the exception of a small part, which is in the wrong place, as I 
have described. 

" Would the new line have the effect of taking away land, in actual possession, 
from any person, and giving it to another ? — Yes, it would. 

" Do you suppose that the other range-lines in this township are correct or in- 
correct ? — Some are correct, but they are generally incorrect ; my attention, how- 
ever, has not been particularly called to them. 

" Are not the proprietors of the other lots which are incorrect anxious to have 
the limits of their property settled?— -Yes, very anxious; more particularly the 
inhabitants of the third range, about one quarter of whose property is taken by 
the inhabitants of the second range, through the means of an erroneous old range 

M 



90 

line, as has been proved by various subsequent surveys duly sworn to. I am tc 
quested by all the inhabitants of the third range to take steps to obtain a new 
range-line. 

" Have they ever applied before for this rectification of the survey ? — Y es ; they 
applied to the surveyor general's department, by a statement made by me, and 
now in the surveyor-general's office; but the answer was that there was no law 
in the province to authorise the changing of a range-line, however incorrect, 
without the consent of all the parties concerned. 

"Then all parties did not concur in this case ? — No. they did not. 
" Why not ? — Because many of those who improperly gained by the error wish- 
ed to retain what rightly belonged to their neighbour. 

"As the former application was fruitless upon what ground do you now pro- 
ceed ? — Upon the confidence that as Lord Durham has greater powers than other 
governors, he may be pleased to consider this great loss of property to tho people, 
and give orders to correct the evil. 
" Are you acquainted with other townships ? — Yes. 

" Have you found the surveys of them generally correct or incorrect ? I have 
found the surveys of the township of Windsor as incorrect, or even more so, 
than that of the towhship of Durham, which can be proved by the most reliable 
testimony. Generally, with the exception of the township of Wickham, I have 
found them quite incorrect. I speak only from my personal experience, and not 
from what I have heard." . 

Mr. Sewell, recently chief-juslice of the province, says : — 

"I have known many defects in the surveys, which have appeared in many 
cases before me, and am apprehensijre that they are very numerous. I can only 
state, from my own opinion, two remedies by which these defects may be in some 
degree remedied . the one is by running anew the outline of the several town- 
ships; the other, an act to give quiet possession, such as has been heretofore 
passed in other provinces, I am afraid that running the outlines of the townships 
would not be of any great benefit beyond exposing the errors." 

Mr. Kerr says : — 

" It is generally understood that the surveys in many of the various townships 
are very inaccurate ; and many of the surveys have been found to be so. I had in 
my hand the other day a patent for four lots in the township of Inverness, three 
of which did not exist, granted to a captain Skinner. Three of the lots were de- 
cided not to be in existence ; and I received compensation for them in another 
township. A great error was discovered in the original survey of the township 
of Leeds. The inaccuracy of the surveys is quite a matter of certainty. I could 
cite a number of townships, Milton, Upton, Orford, Shefford. &c, where the in- 
accuracy has been ascertained. Inconvenience from the inaccuracy of the sur- 
veys has been felt; but it is only now beginning to be so seriously. As the settle- 
ment of the country advances, and land acquires a greater value, great inconven- 
ience must arise in the shape of endless questions of title : and of this many peo 
pie are so well aware, that they refuse to sell with a guarantee of title." 

I may add, generally, that I found the surveying department in Lower 
Canada so thoroughly inefficient in its constitution, as to be incapable of 
any valuable improvement ; and that I therefore abstained from interfer- 
ing with it, trusting that the whole future management of the public 
lands would be placed on a new footing, calculated to remedy this, as 
well as all the other evils of the present system. 

Another of those evils requires some notice here. In the United 
States the title to land purchased of the government is obtained imme- 
diately and securely on payment of the purchase-money. In all theBri- 
tish colonies there is more or less of useless formality and consequent de- 
lay in procuring a complete title to land which has been paid for. 

Dr. Baldwin, speaking of Upper Canada, says : — 

" I do not know that there was any more constant subject of complaint on the 
part of individuals against the government, than the delays of office, especially in 
connection with land-granting. It frequently happened to myself, and I believe 
to others also, that during the time when free grants of land, of small amount,were 
made to actual settlers, persons who had spent their money in waiting for the com- 
pletion of the grant have applied to me for employment while the patent was being 
perfected, and I have furnished it for a short time. The most striking instance 
that occurred in my knowledge, in which an individual was injured by the delay 
to which he was exposed in this respect, was that of a man of the name of Burns, 
who, in Sir Peregiine Maitland's time, having fallen in debt to some persons whom 
he had employed, was pressed by them for the money. At this time, a patent was 
in progress through the offices for him. He applied to his creditors to give him time 



91 

v .iU lua patent was completed, which would enable him to raise money to pay them. 
The creditors were willing, and waited for some time, but at last became impa- 
tient, and they arrested him, and he was compelled to go to prison. The patent 
had passed through the offices, but he was compelled to remain in prison a fort- 
night, while the patent was sent over to the Governor for his signature, at his re- 
sidence near the Falls of Niagara." 

A recent act of the Legislature of Upper Canada has greatly mitigated 
this evil, which however remains in full force in Lower Canada. — Mr. 
Kerr says : — 

" A6 soon as the purchaser has paid the last instalment, he is referred to the 
Crown Lands officer, to whom the payment is made, for patent to the Surveyor- 
General for the necessary specification. Then the specification, with reference, 
is sent to the Commissioner of Crown Lands. These documenis'are next sent 
to the Secretary of the Governor or Civil Secretary, who directs the Provincial 
Secretary to engross the patent. The fees are then levied, and, upon the payment 
of the fees, the Provincial Secretary engrosses. On engrossment being made, the 
Governor signs the patent, and the great seal of the province is attached to it. — 
The signature is procured by the Provincial Secretary. The patent is then sent 
to the Commissioner of Crown Lands to be audited. At present one of the Com- 
missioners audits : this used to be done by the auditor, but the office ot auditor 
has been abolished. When the audit is made, the title is said to be perfected. — 
The effect of having to refer to so many persons has been the total loss of many 
references, and the papers connected with them, in one or "other of the offices. — 
There have been cases in which I was referred three times for the same patent, 
all the papers having been lost twice successively. In some cases the papers are 
found again.but at too late a period to be available. The shortest time within which 
1 have known a title to be perfected is about six weeks, and the Jongest about 
eight years. More than ordinary diligence was used in the case of "six weeks. I 
obtained an order from the Governor for a special reference for my patent to take 
priority of all others then in the office. The average period required for comple- 
ting a title, after the purchase has been completed by the payment of the wholeof 
the purchase-money, is full fifteen months. I am satisfied that the present tys tern 
is a serious impediment to the settlement of the country ; and that no extensive 
measure for that purpose can work well, unless the mode of obtaining title after 
purchase be rendered much more simple. Immediate dispatch with title is what 
is required to encourage purchasers, and prevent uncertainty and discontent. I 
have been directed by purchasers to apply for the return of their purchase money 
from the Crown, because of the delay which has occurred. « The present system 
is so profitable to agents, that, speaking as an agent, I should be sorry to see it 
abolished. One of the inconveniences to the public is the necessity of employing 
agents acquainted with the labyrinths through which each reference has to pass. 1 ' 

The results of this general mismanagement are thus illustrated by the 
chief agent for emigrants in Upper Canada: — 

11 The principal evils to which settlers in a new township are subject result from 
the scantiness of population. A township contains 80,000 acres of land ; one-sev- 
enth is reserved for the clergy and one-seventh for the Crown ; consequently five- 
sevenths remain for the disposal of government, a large proportion of which is tak- 
en up by grants to U. E. loyalists, militiamen, officers, and others ; the far greater 
part of these grants remain in an unimproved state. These blocks of wild land 
place the actual settler in an almost hopeless condition; he can hardly expect, 
during his lifetime, to see his neighbourhood contain a population sufficiently 
dense to support mills, schools, post-offices, places of worship, markets, or shops; 
and without these civilization retrogrades. Roads under such circumstances can 
neither be opened by the settlers, nor kept in proper repair, even if made by the 
government. The inconvenience arising from want of roads is very great, and is 
best illustrated by an instance which came under my own observation in 1834. I 
met a settler from the township of Warwick, on the Carodoc Plains, returning 
from the grist-mill at Westminster with the flour and bran of thirteen bushels of 
wheat. He had a yoke of oxen and a horse attached to his waggon, and had 
been absent nine days, and did not expect to reach home until the following even- 
ing. Light as his loaa was, he assured ms that he had to unload wholly or in 
part several times, and after driving his waggon through the swamps, to pick 
out a road through the woods where the swamps or gullies were fordable, and to 
carry the bags on his back and replace them in the waggon. Supposing the ser- 
vices of the man and his team to be worth two dollars per day, the expense of 
transport would be twenty dollars. As the freight of wheat from Toronto to Li- 
verpool (England) is rather less than 2s 6d per bushel, it follows that a person 
living in this city could get the same wheat ground on the banks of the Mersey, 
and the flour and bran retu-n6d to him, at a much less expense than he could 
transport it from the rear of Warwick to Westminster and back— a djstance less 



92 

than ninety miles. Since 1834 a grist-mill has been built in Adelaide, the ad- 
joining township, which is a great advantage to the Warwick settlers ; but the 
people in many parts of the province still suffer great inconvenience from the 
same cause," 

Mr. Rankin, deputy land-surveyor, says : — 

" The system of making large grants to individuals who had no intention of 
settling them, has tended to retard the prosperity of the colony, by separating the 
actual settlers, and rendering it so much more difficult, and in some cases impossi- 
ble^ make the necessary roads. It has also made the markets more distant and more 
precarious. To such an extent have these difficulties been experienced as to oc- 
casion the abandonment of settlements which had been formed. I may mention, 
as an instance of this, the Township Rama f where, after a trial of three years, the 
settlers were compelled to abandon their improvements. In the Township of St. 
Vincent, almost all the most valuable settlers have left their farms from the same 
cause. There have been numerous instances in which, though the settlement 
has not been altogether abandoned, the most valuable settlers, after unavailing 
struggles of several years with the difficulties which I have described, have left 
their farms." 

This witness, who was for ten years employed by the government as 
deputy surveyor in the western district, which I have before described as 
the finest grain country in North America, states that «« nine-tenths of 
the land granted by the Crown in that district are still in a state of wil- 
derness." For illustration of the same kind as respects Lower Canada, 
I would refer to the testimony of the Commissioner of Crown lands, Mr. 
Kerr, the deputy postmaster-general, Mr. Russell, Major Head, Mr. 
Keough, the chief justice, and Mr. Lemesurier. 

Mr Kerr says : — 

" The main obstacle to tbe speedy settlement and cultivation of all the more 
fertile parts ofthe Province is private land remaining wild ; inasmuch as the land of 
the Crown is open to purchase, which is notgenerally the case with that of private 
individuals, excepting at too exorbitant a price. So injurious is the existence of this 
quantity of wild land, in the- midst or in neighbourhood of a settlement, that nu- 
merous cases have occurred in which a settler, after several years' residence upon 
his property, and having expended in labour from £20 to £50 in clearing part of 
it, and building his house, has been driven to abandon the farm, and to sell it for one- 
third or even one-fourth ofthe sum that he had expended upon it. I have myself bought 
farms which have been abandoned in this way for the merest trifle. One, I re- 
collect now, consisted of 100 acres, in the township of Kingsey, a beautiful part of 
the district of Three Rivers, with rather more than 20 acres cleared, and a good 
house and outhouses erected upon it, for which I paid under £30. I could give 
very many instances of a similar kind, where I have either purchased myself, or 
have had a personal knowledge ofthe circumstances." 

One of the most remarkable instances of evils resulting from profuse 
grants of land is to be found in Prince Edward's Island. Nearly the 
whole ofthe island (about 1,400,000 acres) was alienated in one day, in 
very large grants, chiefly to absentees, and upon conditions which have 
been wholly disregarded. The extreme improvidence which dictated these 
grants is obvious ; the neglect ofthe government as to enforcing the condi- 
tions ofthe grant, in spite ofthe constant efforts ofthe people and the Le- 
gislature to force upon its attention the evils under which they laboured, 
is not less so. The great bulk of the island is still possessed by absentees, 
who hold it as a sort of reversionary interest, which requires* no present 
attention, but may become valuable someday or other through the grow- 
ing wants ofthe inhabitants. But, in the mean time, the inhabitants are 
subjected to the greatest inconvenience, nay to the most serious injury, 
from the state of property in land. The absent proprietors neither im- 
prove the land, nor will let others improve it. They retain the land, and 
keep it in a state of wilderness. I have, in another place, adverted to the 
remedy proposed, and the causes which have long retarded its adoption. 
The feelings of the colonists on the subject are fully expressed in the 
evidence of Mr. Lelacheur, Mr. Solicitor-General Hodgson, and the Go- 
vernor, Sir Chas. Fitzroy. I may add, that their testimony was con- 
firmed by that ofthe delegates from the island, who visited me at Que- 
bec. 

In the above enumeration of facts, I do not profess to have exhausted 



93 . 

the long catalogue of evils and abuses which were brought to my notice. 
But I have stated enough, I trust, to establish the position with which I 
set out — that the disposal of public lands in a new country has more in- 
fluence on the prosperity of the people than any other branch of govern, 
ment ; and further, to make it evident that the still existing evils which 
have been occasioned by mismanagement in this department, are so great 
and general as to require a comprehensive and effectual remedy, applied 
to all the colonies, before any merely political reform can be expected to 
work well. 

I now proceed to another subject, which, though intimately connected 
with the colonisation and improvement of the provinces, must yet be 
considered separately ; for it is one in which not the colonial population 
only, but the people of the United Kingdom, have a deep and immediate 
interest. I allude to the manner in which the emigration of the poorer 
classes from Great Britain and Ireland to the North American colonies 
has hitherto been conducted. 

About nine years ago, measures were for the first time taken to ascer- 
tain the number of emigrants arriving at Quebec by sea. The number 
during these nine years has been 263,089 ; and there have been as many 
in one year (1832) as 51,746. In the year before, the number was 50,254 ; 
in 1833, 21,752; in 1834, 30,935; in 1835, 12,527; in 1836, 27,728 ; in 
1837, 22,500; and in 1838, only 4,992. The great diminution in 1838 
was occasioned solely, I believe, by the vague fears entertained in this 
country of danger presented by the distracted state of the colonies. I 
am truly surprised, however, that emigration of the poorer classes to the 
Canadas did not almost entirely cease some few years ago, and that this 
would have been the case, if the facts which I am about to state had been 
generally known in the United Kingdom, there can, I think, be no rational 
doubt. 

Dr. Morrin, a gentleman of high professional and personal character, 
inspecting physician of the port of Quebec, and commissioner of the Ma- 
rine and Emigrant Hospital, says : — 

"I am almost at a loss fur words to describe the state in which the emigrants 
frequently arrived ; with a few exceptions the state of the ships was quite abom- 
inable ; so much so, that the harbour-master's boatmen had no difficulty, at the 
distance of gun-shot, either when the wind was favourable or in a dead calm, in 
distinguishing by the odour alone a crowded emigrant ship. I have known as ma- 
ny as from 30 to 40 deaths to have taken place, in the course of a voyage, from ty- 
phus fever on board of a ship containing from 500 to 600 passengers ; and within 
six weeks after the arrival of some vessels, and the landing of the passengers at 
Quebec, the hospital has received upwards of a hundred patients at different 
times from among them. On one occasion I have known nearly 400 patients at 
one time in the Emigrant Hospital of Quebec, for whom their was no sufficient ae« 
commodation ; and, in order to provide them with some shelter, Dr Painchaud, 
the then attending physician, with the aid of other physicians, incurred a personal 
debt to the Quebec Bank to a considerable amount, which, however, was after- 
wards paid by the provincial legislature." . . . . " The mortality was consid- 
erable among the emigrants at that time, and was attended with most disastrous 
consequences ; children being left without protection, and wholly dependent on 
the casual charity of the inhabitants of the city. As to those who were not sick 
on arriving, 1 have to say that they were generally forcibly landed by the masters 
of vessels, without a shilling in their pockets to procure them a night's lodging, 
and very few of them with the means of subsistence for more than a very short 
period. They commonly established themselves along the wharfs and at the dif- 
ferent landing places, crowding into any place of shelter they could obtain, where 
they subsisted principally upon the charity of the inhabitants. For six weeks at 
a time from the commencement of the emigrant ship season, I have known the 
shores of the river along Quebec, for about a mile and a half, crowded with these 
unfortunate people, the places of those who might have moved off being constant- 
ly supplied by fresh arrivals, and there being daily drafts of lrom 10 to 30 taken 
to the hospital with infectious disease. The consequence was its spread among 
the inhabitants of the city, especially in the districts in which these unfortunate 
creatures had established themselves. Those who were not absolutely without 
money got into low taverns and boarding houses and cellars, where they congre- 
gated in immense numbers, and where their state was not any better than it had 
been on board ship. This state of things existed within my knowledge lrom 1826 
to 1832, and probably for some years previously."' 



94 

Dr. Morrin's testimony is confirmed by that of Dr. Skey, deputy in- 
Spector-gencral of hospitals, and president of the Quebec Emigrants' 
society. He says : — 

" Upon the arrival of emigrants in the river, a great number of sick have land" 
ed. A regular importation of contagious diseases into this country has annually 
taken place ; that disease originated on board ship, and was occasioned, I should 
say, by bad management, in consequence of the ships being, ill iound, ill provis- 
ioned, over-crowaed, and ill-ventilated. I should say that the mortality during 
the voyage has been dreadful ; to such an extent that, in 1834, the inhabitants of 
Quebec, taking alarm at the number of shipwrecks, at the mortality of the pas- 
sengers, and the fatal diseases which accumulated at the Quarantine Establish- 
ment at Grosse Isle and the Emigrant Hospital of this city, involving the inhabit- 
ants of Quebec in the calamity, called upon the Emigrants' Society to take the 
subject into consideration, and make representations to the government thereon." 
The circumstances described took place under the operation of the act 9th Geo. 
IV., commonly called the Passengers' Act, which was passed in 1825, repealed in 
1827. and re-enacted in 1828. In 1835, an amended Passengers' Act was passed, 
the main features of which, so far as they differed from the former act, are stated 
to have been suggested by the Quebec Emigrants' Society. Mr. Jessopp, collec- 
tor of Customs at the Port of Quebec, speaking of emigration under the last act, 
says, " it very often happens that poorer emigrants have not a sufficiency of pro- 
visions for the voyage ; that they should have a sufficiency of provisions might be 
enforced under the act, which authorises the inspection of provisions by the out- 
port agent for emigrants. Many instances have come to my knowledge in which, 
from insufficiency of provisions, emigrants have been thrown upon the humanity 
of the captain, or the charily of their fellow passengers. It wiil appear, also, 
from the fact that many vessels have more emigrant passengers than the number 
allowed by law, that sufficient attention is not paid at the outport to enforce the 
provisions of the act as to the proportions between the numbers and the tonnage. 
Such instances have not occurred this season (1833), emigration having almost 
ceased, in consequence, I presume, of the political state of the province ; but, 
last year, there were several instances in which prosecution took place. Vessels 
are chartered for emigration by persons whose sole object is to make money,and who 
make a trade of evading the provisions of the act. This applies particularly to vessels 
coming from Ireland. We have found, in very many instances, that in vessels 
chartered in this way the number was greater than allowed by law; and the cap- 
tains have declared, that the extra numbers smuggled themselves, or were smug- 
gled on board, and were only discovered after the vessel was several days at sea. 
This might be prevented by a stricter examination of the vessel. The Imperial 
Acs requires that the names, ages, sex, and occupation of each passenger should 
be entered in a list, certified by the customs' officer at the outport, and delivered 
by the captain with the ship's papers to the officers of the customs here. Lists, 
purporting to be correct, are always delivered to the tide-surveyor, whose duty it 
is to muster the passengers and compare them with the list ; and this list, in many 
instances, is wholly incorrect as to names and ages," . . . The object of the 
falsification of the ages is to defraud the revenue by evading the tax upon emi- 
grants. . . . "The falsification of names produces no inconvenience; and I 
have only referred to it for the purpose of showing the careless manner in which 
the system is worked by the agents in the United Kingdom." But Dr. Poole, 
inspecting physician of the Quarantine Station at Grosse Isle, further explains the 
fraud, saying, " These falsifications are, first, for the purpose of evading the emi- 
grant tax, which is levied in proportion to age, and the common fraud is to under 
state the age ; and, secondly, for the purpose of carrying more passengers than 
the law allows, by counting grown persons as children, of which last, the law al- 
lows a larger proportion to tonnage than of grown persons. The fraud is very 
common, of frequent occurrence, and it arises manifestly from want of inspection 
at home." 

From this and other evidence, it will appear that the Amended Passen- 
gers' Act alone, as it has hitherto been administered, would have afford- 
ded no efficient remedy of the dreadful evils described by Dr. Morrin and 
Dr. Skey. Those evils have, however been greatly mitigated by two 
measures of the provincial government : first, the application of a tax 
upon passengers from the United Kingdom, to providing shelter, med- 
ical attendance, and the means of further transport to destitute 
emigrants ; secondly, the establishment of the quarantine station at 
Grosse Isle, a desert island some miles below Quebec, where all vessels 
arriving with cases of contagious disease are detained ; the diseased 
persons are removed to an hospital and emigrants not affected with 
disease are landed, and subjected to some discipline for the purpose of 



05 

cleanliness, the ship also being cleaned while they remained on shorn, 
By these arrangements, the accumulation of wretched paupers at Quebec, 
and the spread of contagious disease, are prevented. An arrangement, 
made only in 1837, whereby the quarantine physician at Gross Isle 
decides whether or not an emigrant ship shall be detainod there or proceed 
on its voyage, has, to use the words of Dr. Poole, " operated as a pre- 
mium to care and attention on the part of the captain, and has had a 
salutary effect on the comfort of the emigrants." 

I cordially rejoice in these improvement, but would observe that the 
chief means by which the good has boon accomplished indicates the 
greatness of the evil that remains. The necessity of a quarantine 
establishment for preventing the importation of contagious disease from 
Britain to her colonies, as if the emigrants had departed from one of these 
eastern countries which are the home of the plague, shows beyond a doubt 
either that our very systom of emigration is most, defective, or that it is 
most carelessly administered. 

It is, I know, contended in this country that, though great defects 
existed formerly, present arrangements are very different and no longer 
objectionable. For example, in the port of the agent-general for emigra- 
tion from the United Kingdom, ordered by the House of Commons to be 
printed 14th May, 1838, it is stated, with reference to that emigration 
to the Canadas, before the year 1832, which has been described by Dr. 
Mcrrin and Dr. Skey, eye-witnesses of the miseries and calamities that 
took place, that " these great multitudes had gone out by their own 
means, and disposed of themselves through their own efforts, without 
any serious or lasting inconvenience." . . . "A practice." it is 
added, •« which appeared to thrive so well spontaneously." The same 
report states, with reference to the present operation of the Passengers* 
Act, and the officers employed by the Colonial Department to superintend 
its execution, that " their duty is to give ease and security to the resort to 
the colonies.and to promote the observance of the salutary provisions of the 
Passengers' Act. In all that relates to emigration they constitute, as it 
were, in every port the appointed poor man's friend- They take notice 
whether the ship offered for his conveyance is safe, and fit for its pur- 
pose ; they see to the sufficiency of the provisions on board ; they pro- 
hibit over-crowding ; and they make every effort to avert or to frustate 
those numerous and heartless frauds which are but too constantly 
attempted at the moment of departure upon the humbler classes of 
emigrants," «« Every effort," adds the reporter, speaking of emigrants to 
North America, " is made for the ease and safety of their intransit " 

At Quebec, at least, where are landed the great majority of emigrants 
to the North American colonies, an opinion prevails which is greatly at 
variance with the above representation. Nobody in the colony denies 
that the Passengers' Act and the appointment of agents to superintend 
Its execution, is a considerable improvement upon the utterly lawless and 
unobserved practices of former times ; nor I should imagine, would any 
one in this country object to such an approach, however distant, to the 
systematic and responsible management of emigration, which has been 
repeatedly urged upon the government of late years ; but that there is 
is still great room for further improvement, as respects emigration to the 
Colonies in North America, as, I think, established by Mr. Jessopp, and 
the following evidence of Dr. Poole. 

Dr. Poole holds an important office, of which I am enabled to state 
that he has performed the duties with great skill and exemplary dili- 
gence. He did not volunteer the information which he has supplied. — 
He was summoned to give evidence before the Commissioners of Inquiry 
on Crown Lands and Emigration ; and it was in answer to questions pu* 
to him that he said, 

" I have been attached to the station at Grosse Isle for the last six years My 
description applies down to the present year. We had last year upwards of 22,000 
emigrants. The poorer class of Irish, and the English paupers sent by parishes, 
were, on the arrival of vessels in many instances, entirely without provisions, so 
much so, that it was necessary immediately to supply them with food from shore; 
and some of these ships had already received food and water from other vessels 



Willi which ihey had fallen in. Other vessels, with the same class of emigrant 
were not entirely destitute, but had suffered much privation, from having been 
placed on short allowance. This destitution, or shortness of provisions, com- 
bined with dirt and bad ventilation, had invariably produced fevers of a conta- 
gious character, and occasioned some deaths on the passage ; and from such ves- 
sels numbers, varying from twenty to ninety each vessel, had been admitted to 
hospital with contagious fevers immediately on their arrival. I attribute the 
whole evil to defective arrangements ; for instance, parish emigrants from Eng- 
land receive rations of biscuit and beef, or pork, often of bad quality (oi this I am 
aware from personal inspection) ; they are incapable from sea-sickness, of using 
this solid food at the beginning of the passage, when, from want of small stores, 
such as tea, sugar, coffee, oatmeal, and flour, they fall into a state of debility and 
low spirits, by which they are incapacitated from the exertions required for 
cleanliness and exercise, and also indisposed to solid fjod, more particularly the 
women and children ; and on their arrival here, I find many cases of typhus 

fever among them." . ..... 

" I also wish to mention, as loudly calling for remedy, a system of extortion car- 
ried on by masters of vessels, chiefly from Ireland, whence come the bulk of our 
emigrants. The captain tells emigrants the passage will be made in three weeks 
or a month, and they need not lay in provisions for any longer period, well know- 
ing that the average passage is six weeks, and that it often extends to eight or 
nine weeks. When the emigrants' stores are exhausted, the captain, who has 
laid in a stock for the purpose, obliges them to pay often as much as 400 per cent, 
on the cost price for the means of subsistence, and thus robs the poor emigrant 
of his last shilling. Such cases are of frequent occurrence, even down to the pre- 
sent year." " Parish emigrants are generally at the mercy of 

the captain or mate, who serve out the provisions, and who frequently put emi- 
grants on short allowance soon after their departure. Complains of short weight 
and bad quality in the provisions are frequently made." . . . " The 

captains have in many instances told me, that the agents only muster the passen- 
gers on deck, inquire into the quantity of provisions, and in some cases, require 
them them to be produced, when, occasionally, the same bag of meal or other 
provisions was shown as belonging to several persons in succession. This the 
captain discovered after sailing. The mere mustering of the passengers on deck 
without going below where the provisions are kept, is really no inspection at all ; 
and it frequently happens that passengers are smuggled on board without any 
provisions." " Very few cf these vessels have on board a suffi- 
cient quantity of water, the casks being insufficient in number, and very many of 
them old oak casks made up with pine heads, which therefore leak, if they do 
not fall to pieces, which often happens. I have had many similar cases from Liv- 
erpool "... . " That part of the law which regulates the height be- 
tween decks of emigrant ships is frequently evaded in the smaller class of vessels 
by means of a false deck some distance below the beams, bringing the passengers 
nearly in contact with the damp ballast, pressing them into the narrow part of the 
ship, and the beams taking an important part of the room allotted to them by law. 
It is quite impossible that such fittings should escape observation in the port oi 
departure, if that part of the vessel intended for emigrants be visited." . 
" There is another evil which might be readily obviated by a proper selection of 
vessels at home, that of employing as emigrantships vessels that are scarcely sea- 
worthy ; and which, consequently, being unable to carry sail, make very long 
passages. As the tonnage of the best class of vessels coming to Canada is more 
than sufficient to bring all the emigrants in any year, the employment of these bad 
ships ought not to be permitted." . ... "The reports made to me by 

the class of captains and surgeon superintendents now bringing passengers are 
seldom to be relied upon. In illustration, I beg leave to mention a case that oc- 
curred last year. It was a vessel with about 150 passengers on board, from an 
Irish port. The captain assured me that they had no sickness on board ; and the 
surgeon produced a list, which he had signed, of certain slight ailments, such as 
bowel complaints and catarrhs, which had occurred during the passage, and 
which appeared on the list with the remark ' cured ' to all of them. On making 
my usual personal inspection, I found and sent to hospital upwards of forty cases 
of typhus fever, of which nine were below in bed. These nine they had not been 
able to get out of bed. Many of the others were placed against the bulwarks, to 
make a show of being in health, with pieces of bread and hot potatoes in their 
hands. As there are many most respectable captains in the lumber trade, a pro- 
per selection by the emigrant agents at home would prevent this abuse." . . . 
" The medical superintendence on board vessels obliged by the Passengers' Act 
to carry a surgeon, is very defective. The majority of such persons called sur- 
geons are unlicensed students and apprentices, or apothecaries' shopmen, without 
sufficient medical knowledge to be of any service to the emigrants, cither for the 
prevention or cure of diseases. On board a ship the knowledge of the means of 
preventing disease in such a situation is the first requisite in a medical man, and 



:n this the medical superintendents are lamentahly deficient. It is not much Bet- 
ter as to the cure of diseases. I boarded a ship last year, of which the captain 
and three passengers, who had met with accidents, had their limbs bandaged for 
supposed fractures, which, upon examination, I found were only simple strains 
or bruises. On examining the captain's arm, I said that there had been no frac- 
ture. The surgeon, so called, replied — ' I assure you the labia and fibula are both 
broken.' It happens that the tabia and Jibula are bones of the leg. This is an ex- 
treme case, apparently ; but it is not an unfair illustration of the ignorance and pre- 
sumption of the class of men appointed to comply with that part of the act which 
is intended to provide for the medical care of emigrants during the voyage." 

The agent-general's roport, which was laid before Parliament last year, 
does not evon allude to another feature of our system of emigration, on 
which I have yet to offer some remarks. However defective the present 
arrangements for the passage of emigrants, they are not more so than the 
means employed to provide for the comfort and prosperity of this class 
after their arrival in the colonies. Indeed, it may be said that no such 
means are in existence. It will be seen from the very meagre evidence* 
of the agent for emigrants at Quebec, that the office which he holds is 
next to useless. I cast no blame on the officer, but would only explain 
that he has no powers, nor scarcely any duties to perform. Nearly all 
that is done for the advantage of poor emigrants, after they have passed 
the Lazaretto, is performed by the Quebec and Montreal Emigrants' So- 
cieties — benevolent associations of which I am bound to speak in the 
highest terms of commendation ; to which, indeed, we owe whatever im- 
provement has taken place in the yet unhealthy mid-passage, but which, 
as they were instituted for the main purpose of relieving the inhabitants 
of the two cities from the miserable spectacle of crowds of unemployed 
and starving emigrants, so have their efforts produced little other good 
than that of facilitating the progress of poor emigrants to the United 
States, where the industrious of every class are always sure of employ 
ment at good wages. In the report on emigration, to which I have allu- 
ded before, I find favourable mention of the principle of entrusting some 
parts of the conduct of emigration rather to " charitable committees" than 
to «• an ordinary department of government." From this doctrine 1 feel 
bound to express my entire dissent. I can scarcely imagine any obliga- 
tion which it is more incumbent on government to fulfil, than that of 
guarding against an improper selection of emigrants, and securing to 
poor persons disposed to emigrate every possible facility and assistance, 
from the moment of their intending to "leave this country to that of their 
comfortable establishment in the colony. No less an obligation is incur- 
red by the government, when, as is now the case, they invite poor per- 
sons to emigrate by tens of thousands every year. It would, indeed, be 
very mischievous if the government were to deprive emigrants of self- 
reliance, by doing every thing for them ; but when the state leads grea/t 
numbers of people into a situation in which it is impossible that they 
should do well without assistance, then the obligation to assist them be- 
gins ; and it never ends, in my humble opinion, until those who have 
relied on the truth and paternal care of the government are placed in a 
situation to take care of themselves. How little this obligation has beer* 
Teguarded, as respects emigration to your Majesty's North American co- 
lonies, will be seen from the following evidence : — 

Mr. Buchanan, the chief agent for emigrants at Quebec, says :— • 

"I have had no communication from the agent-general of emigration ;" and, 
" The instructions I have mentioned as regulating the proceedings of my office; <to 
not, I conceive, contain any specific directions as to trie duties I have to perform. 
In fact, they were not addressed to my office at all. I suppose that they were 
transmitted to my predecessor,ir« order that he might be acquainted with the views 
of the home government on the subject." ''There may have been specific in- 
structions for the guidance of the agent for emigrants, but I am not aware of any. 
I have myself followed the routine that I found established." 

Dr. Skey says :— 

" A pauper emigrant on his arrival in this province is generally either with no- 
thing or with a very small sum in his pocket ; entertaining the most erroneous 
ideas as to his prospects here; expecting immediate and constant employment at 

N 



98 

ample wages ; entirely ignorant of the nature of the country, and of the place - 
where labour is most in demand, and of the best means by which to obtain em- 
ployment. He has landed from the ship, and from his apathy and want of energy 
has loitered about the wharves, waiting for the offer of employment, or, if he ob- 
tained employment, he calculated upon its permanency, and fonnd himself at the 
beginning of the winter, when there is little or no employment for labour in this 
part of the country, discharged, and without any provision for the wants of a Ca- 
nadian winter. In this way emigrants have often accumulated in Quebec at the 
end of summers, encumbered it with indigent inhabitants, and formed the most 
onerous burthen on the charitable funds of the community." 

Mr. Forsyth says : — 

" Emigration has improved of late years with regard to the destitute sick 
and to the totally destitute by means of the emigrant society, and the fund raked 
by the emigrant tax; but with regard to the main body of emigrants, the evil re- 
salts of a total want of system are as conspicuous as ever. The great evils that 
have hitherto existed have arisen from the want of system, and especially from 
the want of all adequate means of information.advice, and guardianship. Thrs want 
of information necessarily gives a vagrant character to their movements. Unable 
to obtain information as to the best nude of proceeding in this province, they 
move onward to Toronto, and find the same want there ; they become disgusted, 
and leave the Province in large numbers, to become citizens of the American 
Union. My observation on the subject has led me to estimate the proportion of 
emigrants from Britain who proceed to the United States* at sixty in one hundred 
during the last few years." 

Mr. Stayner says :— 

" Many of those poor people have little or no agricultural knowledge, even in a 
general way; and they are all ignorant of the husbandry practised in the country . 
The consequence is. that, after getting into ' the bush,' as it is called, they find 
themselves beset with privations and difficulties which they are not able to con- 
tend with, and, giving way under the pressure, they abandon their little improve- 
ments to seek a livelihood elsewhere. Many resort to the large towns in the 
provinces, with their starving families, to eke out by day labour and begging to- 
gether a wretched existence ; whilst others of them (more enterprising) are tempt- 
ed, by the reputed high wages and more genial climate of the United States, to 
try their fortunes in that country. Now and then, some individual better sifted, 
and possessing more energy of character than the mass of the adventurers who 
arrive, will successfully contend with those difficulties, and do well for himself 
and family ; but the proportion of such is small." 

Mr. Jessopp says : — 

'•Emigrants sent out by parishes fire very generally inferior, both morally and 
physically, to those who have found their own way out. The parishes have sent 
out persons far too old to gain their livelihood by work, and often of drunken and 
improvident habits. These emigrants have neither benefitted themselves nor the 
country; and this is very natural, for, judging from the class sent out, the object 
must have been the getting rid of them, and not either the benefit of themselves 
or the colony. An instance occurred very recently, which illustrates this subject. 
A respectable settler in the Eastern Townships lately returned from England in 
a vessel on board of which were 136 pauper passengers, sent out at the expense 
of their parishes ; and out of the whole number he could only select two that he 
was desirous of inducing to settle in the Eastern Townships- The conduct of the 
others, both male and Female, was so bad, that he expressed his wish that they 
might proceed to the Upper Province, instead of settling in this district. He allu- 
ded principally to gross drunkenness and unchastity. ******* The 
inhabitants of Quebec and Montreal are subject to constan t appeals from persons 
who arrive here, and linger about in a state of total destitution." 

The most striking example, however, of the want of system and precau- 
tion on the part of government is that of the old soldiers, termed Com- 
muted Pensioners, of whom nearly 3,000 reached the colonies in the 
years 1832 and 1833. A full description of the fate of these unfortunate 
people will be found in the evidence of Mr. Davidson and others. Many 
of them landed in Quebec before the instructions had been received in 
the colony to pay them the sums to which they were to be entitled on 
their arrival, and even before the provincial government knew of their 
departure from England. Many of them spent the amount of their com- 
mutation money in debauchery, or were robbed of it when intoxicated. 
Many never attempted to settle upon the land awarded to them ; and of 
those who made the attempt, several were unable to discover whereabouts 



ft 

^n the wilderness their grants wero situated. Many or them sold their 
right to the land for a mere trifle, and were left, within a lew weeks of 
their arrival, in a state of absolute want. Of the whole number who 
landed in the colony, probably not one in three attempted to establish 
themselves on their grants, and not one in six remain settled there at the 
present time ; the remainder generally lingered in the vicinity of the 
principal towns, where they contrived to pick Up a subsistence by beg- 
ging and occasional labour. Great numbers perished miserably in the 
two years of cholera, or from diseases engendered by exposure and priva- 
tions, and aggravated by their dissolute habits. The majority of them 
have at le gth disappeared. The situation of those who survive calls 
loudly for some measure of immediate relief: It is one of extreme d sti- 
tution and suffering. Their land is almost entirely useless, and they can- 
not obtain any adequate employment either as farm labourers or as domestic 
servants. At the commencement of every winter, therefore, they are 
thrown upon the charity of individuals. In the Upper Province their situa- 
tion is equally deplorable, and numbers must have perished from absolute 
starvation if they had not been fed by the provincial government. Icon* 
fiaently trust that their pensions may be restored, and that, in future, 
whenever the government shall interfere, directly or indirectly, in promot- 
ing the emigration of poor persons to these colonies, it will be under 
some systematic arrangements calculated to prevent the selection of clas. 
sea disqualified from gaining by their removal, and to guard the other 
classes from the misfortunes, into which they are now apt to fall through 
ignorance of the new country, and the want of all preparation for their 
arrival. 

It is far from my purpose, in laying these facts before your Majesty, to 
discourage emigration to your North American colonies. On the contra, 
ry, I am satisfied that the chief value of those colonies to the mother 
country consists in their presenting a field where millions even of those 
who are distressed at home might be established in plenty and happiness. 
All the gentlemen whose evidence I have last quoted are warm advocates 
of systematic emigration. I object, along with them, only to such emi- 
gration as now takes places — without forethought, preparation, method, 
or system of any kind. 



Conclusion* 

I have now brought under review the most prominent features of the con- 
dition and institutions of the British Colonies in North America. It has been 
my painful task to exhibit a state of things which cannot be contemplated 
without grief by all who value the wellbeing of our colonial fellow-country- 
men and the integrity of the British Empire. 1 have described the operation 
of those causes of division which unhappily exist in tbe very composition of 
society ; the disorder produced by the working of an ill-contrived constitu- 
tional system, and the practical mismanagement which these fundamental 
defects have generated in every department of Government. 

It is not necessary that I should take any pains to prove that this is a state 
of things which should not, which cannot, continue. Neither the political} 
nor the social existence of any community can bear much longer the operation 
of those causes, which have, in Lower Canada already produced a long prac- 
tical cessation of the regular course of Constitutional Government, which 
have occasioned the violation and necessitated the absolute suspension of the 
Provincial Constitution, and which have resulted in two insurrections, two 
substitutions of martial for civil law, and two periods of a general abeyance 
of every guarantee that is considered essential for the protection of a British 
subject's rights. I have already described the state of feeling which prevails 
among each of the contending parties, or rather races ; their all-pervading 
and irreconcilable enmity to each other ; the entire and irremediable dis- 
affection of the whole French population, as well as the suspicion with which 
tbe English regard the Imperial Government ; and the determination of the 
French, together with the tendency of the English, to seek for a redress of 



100 

their intolerable present ewls in the chances of a separation from Great Bri- 
tain. The disorders of Lower Canada admit of no delay, ihe existing form 
of government is but a temporary and forcible subjugation. The recent con- 
stitution is one of which neither party would tolerate the re-establishment, 
and of which the bad working has been such, that no friend to liberty or to 
order could desire to see the Province again subjected to its mischievous in- 
fluence. Whatever may be the difficulty of discovering a remedy, its ur- 
gency is certain and obvious. 

Nor do I believe that the necessity for adopting some extensive and deci- 
sive measure for the pacification of Upper Canada is at all less imperative. 
From the account which I have given of the causes of disorder in that pro- 
vince, it will be seen that I do not consider them by any means of such a 
nature as to be irremediable, or even to be susceptible of no remedy, that 
shall not affect an organic change in the existing constitution. It cannot be 
denied, indeed, that the continuance of the many practical grievances which 
I have described as subjects of complaint, and, above all, the determined 
resistance to such a system of responsible government, as would give the 
people a real control over its own destinies, have together with the irritation 
caused by the late insurrection induced a large poition of the population to 
look with envy at the material prosperity of their neighbours in the United 
States, under a perfectly free and eminently responsible government ; and, 
in despair of obtaining such benefits under their present institutions, to de- 
sire the adoption of a Republican constitution, or even an incorporation 
with the American Union. But I am inclined to think that such feelings 
have made no formidable or irreparable progress ; on the contrary, I believe 
that all the discontented parties, and especially the reformers of Upper- 
Canada, look with considerable confidence to the result of my mission. The 
different parties believe that when the case is once fairly put before the 
mother country.the desired changes in the policy of their Government will be 
readily granted : they are now tranquil, and I believe loyal ; determined to 
abide the decision of the home Government, and to defend their property 
and their country against rebellion and invasion. But 1 cannot but express 
my belief that this is the last effort of their almost exhausted patience and 
that the disappointment of their hopes on the piesent occasion, will destroy 
for ever their expectation of good resulting from British connection. I do 
not mean to say that they will renew the rebellion ; much less do I ima- 
gine that they will array themselves in such force, as will be able to tear 
the Government of their country from the hands of tbe great military power 
which Great Britain can bring against them. If now frustrated in their ex- 
pectations, and kept in hopeless subjection to rulers irresponsible to the peo- 
ple, they will, at best, only await in sullen prudence the contingencies which 
may render the preservation of the Province dependent on the devoted loy- 
alty of the great mass of its population. 

With respect to the North American Provinces, I will not speak of such 
evils as imminent, because I firmly believe that, whatever discontent there 
may be, no irritation subsists which in any way weakens the strong feeling 
of attachment to the British Crown and Empire. Indeed, throughout the 
whole of the North American Provinces, there prevails among the British 
population an affection for the Mother Country, and a preference for its in- 
stitutions, which a wise and firm policy on the part of the Imperial Govern- 
ment may make the foundation of a safe, honourable, and enduring connec- 
tion. But even this feeling may be impaired, and I must warn those in whose 
hands the disposal of their destinies rests, that a blind reliance on the all-en- 
during loyalty of our countrymen may be carried too far. It is not politic 
to waste and cramp their resources, and to allow the backwardness of the 
British Provinces everywhere to present a melancholy contrast to the pro- 
gress and prosperity of the United States. Throughout the course of the 
preceding pages, I have constantly had occasion to refer to this contrast. I 
have not hesitated to do so, though no man's just pride in his country, and 
tirm attachment to its institutions, can be more deeply shocked by the mor- 
tifying admission of inferiority. But I should ill discharge my duty to your 
Majesty, I should give but an imperfect view of the real condition of these 
Provinces, were I to detail real statistical facts without describing the feel- 



101 

iqgs'vvWch they generate in those who observe them daily, aud daily experi- 
ence their influence on their own fortuues. The contrast which I have des- 
cribed is the theme of every traveller who visits these countries, and who 
observes on one side of the line the abundance, and on the other the scarcity, 
of every sign of material prosperity which thriving agriculture and flourish- 
ing cities indicate, and of that civilization which schools and chuiches tes- 
tify even to the outward senses. While it excites the exultation of the ene- 
mies of British institutions, its reality is more strongly evinced by the reluc- 
tant admission of your Majesty's most attached subjects. It is no true loy- 
alty to hide from your Majesty's knowledge the existence of an evil, which 
it is in your Majesty's power, as it is your Majesty's benevolent pleasure 
to remove ; for the possibility of reform is yet afforded by the patient and 
fervent attachment which your Majesty's English subjects in all these Pro- 
vinces still feel to their allegiance and their Mother Country. Calm reflec- 
tion and loyal confidence have retained these feelings unimpaired, even by 
the fearful drawback of the general belief that every man's property is of 
less value on the British than on the opposite side of the boundary. It is 
time to reward this noble confidence by shewing that men have not indulged 
in vain the hope, that there is a power in British institutions to rectify ex- 
isting evils, and to produce in their place a well-being which no other do- 
minion could give. It is not in the terrors of the law nor in the might of our 
armies, that the secure and honourable bond of connection is to be found. It 
exists in the beneficial operation of tho>e British institutions which link the 
utmost developement of freedom and civilization with the stable authority of 
an hereditary Monarchy, and which, if rightly organized and fairly adminis- 
tered in the Colonies, as in Great Britain, would render a change of insti- 
tutions only an additional evil to the loss of the protection and commerce of 
the British Empire. 

But while I count thus confidently on the possibility of a permanent and 
advantageous retention of our connection with these important Colonies, I 
must not disguise the mischief and danger of holding them in their present 
state of disorder. 1 rate the chances of successful rebellion as the least dan- 
ger in prospect. I do not doubt that the British Government can, if it 
choose to retain these dependencies at any cost, accomplish its purpose ; I 
believe that it has the means of enlisting, one part of the population against 
the other, and of garrisoning the Canadas with regular troops sufficient to awe 
all internal enemies. But even this will not be done without great expense 
and hazard. The experience of the last two years furnishes only a foretaste 
of the cost to which such a system of Government will subject us. On the 
lowest calculation, the addition of a million a year to our annual Colonial 
expenditure will barely enable us to attain this end. Without a change in 
our system of Government, the discontent which now prevails will spread, 
and advance. As the cost of retaining these Colonies increases, their value 
will rapidly diminish ; and if by such means the British nation shall be con- 
tent to retain a barren and injurious sovereignty, it will but tempt the 
chances of foreign aggression, by keeping continually exposed to a powerful 
aDd ambitious neighbour a distant dependency, in which an invader would 
find no resistance, but might rather reckon on active co-operation from a 
portion of the resident population. 

I am far from presenting this risk in a manner calculated to irritate the 
just pride which would shrink from the thoughts of yielding to the menaces 
of a rival nation. Because, important as I consider the foreign relations of this 
question, I do not believe that there is now any veiy proximate danger of a colli- 
sion with the United States, in consequence of that power designing to take 
advantage of the disturbed state of the Canadas. In the despatch of the 9th 
of August, I have described my impression of the state of feeling with respect 
to the Lower Cauadian insurrection, which had existed, and was then in ex- 
istence, in the United States. Besides, the causes of hostile feeling which 
originate in the mere juxtaposition of that power to our North American 
Provinces, I described the influence Which had undoubtedly been exercised 
by that mistaken political sympathy with the insurgents of Lower Canada, 
which the inhabitants of the United States were induced to entertain. There 
is no people in the world so little likely as that of the United States to sym- 



102 

pathize with the real feelings and policy of the French Canadians ; no peo. 
pie so little likely to share in their anxiety to preserve ancient and barbar- 
ous laws, and to check the industry and improvement of their country, in 
order to gratify some idle and narrow notion of a petty and visionary nation- 
ality. The Americans who have visited Lower Canada, perfectly under- 
stand the real truth of the case ; they see that the quarrel is a quarrel of 
races ; and they certainly show very little inclination to take part with the 
French Canadians and their institutions. Of the great number of American 
travellers, coming from all parts of the Union, who visited Quebec during 
my residence there, and whose society I, together with the gentlemen at- 
tached to my mission, had the advantage of enjoying, not one ever expressed 
to any of us any approbation of what may be termed the national objects of 
the French Canadians, while many did not conceal a strong aversion to 
them. There is no people in the world to whom the French Canadian in- 
stitutions are more intolerable when circumstances compel submission to 
them. But the mass of the American people had judged of the quarrel 
from a distance ; they had been obliged to form theii judgment on the appa- 
rent grounds of the controversy ; and were thus deceived, as all those are 
apt to be who judge under such circumstances and on such grounds. The 
contest bore some resemblance to that great struggle of their own forefa- 
thers, which they regard with the highest pride. Like that, they believed 
it to be a contest of a Colony against the Empire whose misconduct alienated 
their own country ; they considered it to be a contest undertaken by a 
people professing to seek independence of distant control and extension of 
popular privileges ; and finally, a contest of which the first blow was struck 
in consequence of a violation of a Colonial Constitution, and the appropria- 
tion of the Colonial revenues without the consent of the Colonists. It need 
not surprise us that such apparently probable and sufficient causes were ge- 
nerally taken by the people of the United States as completely accounting 
for the whole dispute ; that the analogy between the Canadian insurrection 
and the war of independence was considered to be satisfactorily made out 
and that a free and high-spirited people eagerly demonstrated its sympathy 
with those whom it regarded as gallantly attempting, with unequal means, to 
assert that glorious cause which its own fathers had triumphantly upheld. 

In the case of Upper Canada, I believe the sympathy to have been much 
more strong and durable ; and, though the occasion of the contest was appa- 
rently less marked, I have no doubt that this was more than compensated by 
the similarity of language and manners, which enabled the rebels of the 
Upper Province to present their case much more easily and forcibly to 
those whose sympathy and aid they sought. The incidents of any struggle 
of a large portion of a people with its Government are sure, at some time or 
another, to elicit some sympathy with those who appear, to the careless view 
of a foreign nation, only as martyrs to the popular cause, and as victims of a 
Government conducted on principles differing from its own ; and I have no 
doubt that if the internal struggle be renewed, the sympathy from without 
will, at some time or another, resume its former strength. 

For it must be recollected that the natural ties of sympathy between the 
English population of the Canadas and the inhabitants of the frontier States 
of the Union are peculiarly strong. Not only do they speak the same lan- 
guage, live under laws having the same origin, and preserve the same cus- 
toms and habits, but there is a positive alternation, if 1 may so express it, of 
the populations of the two countries. While large tracts of the British ter- 
ritory are peopled by American citizens, who still keep up a constant con- 
nection with their kindred and friends, the neighbouring States are filled 
with emigrants from Great Britain, some of whom have quitted Canada after 
unavailing efforts to find there a profitable return for their capital and labour, 
and many of whom have settled in the United States, while other members 
of their families, and the companions of their youth, have taken up their 
abode on the other side of the frontier. I had no means of ascertaining the 
exact degree of truth in some statements which 1 have heard, respecting the 
number of Irish settled in the State of New York ; but it is commonly as- 
serted that there are no less than 40,000 Irish in the Militia of ihat State. 
The intercourse between these two divisions of what is, in fact, an iden- 



103 

tical population, is coustaut and universal. The border Townships of Lower 
Canada are separated from the United States by an imaginary line ; a great 
part of the frontier of Upper Canada by rivers which are crossed in ten inin. 
utes ; and the rest by lakes, which interpose hardly a six hours' passage be- 
tween the inhabitants of each side. Every man's daily occupations bring 
him in contact with his neighbours on the other side of the line ; the daily 
wants of one country are supplied by the produce of the other ; and the po- 
pulation of each is in some degree dependent on the state of trade and the 
demands of the other. Such common wants beget an interest in the politics 
of each country among the citizens of the other. The newspapers circulate 
in some places almost equally on the difl'eient sides of the line, and men dis- 
cover that their welfare is frequently as much involved in the political 
condition of their neighbours as of their own countrymen. 

The danger of any serious mischief from this cause appears to me to be 
less, at the present moment, than for some time past. The events of the last 
year, and the circulation of more correct information respecting the real 
causes of contention, have apparently operated very successfully against the 
progress or continuance of this species of sympathy ; and I have the satisfac- 
tion of believing that the policy which was pursued during my administration 
of the Government was very efficient in removing it. The almost complete 
unanimity of the press of the United States, as well as the assurances of in- 
dividuals well conversant with the state of public opinion in that country, 
convince me that the measures which I adopted met with a concurrence that 
completely turned the tide of feeling in favour of the British Government. 
Nor can I doubt from the unvarying evidence that I have received from all 
persons who have recently travelled through the frontier States of the Union, 
that there hardly exists, at the present moment, the slightest feeling which 
can properly be called sympathy. Whatever aid the insurgents have recently 
received from citizens of the United States, may either be attributed to 
those national animosities which are the too sure result of past wars, or to 
those undisguised projects of conquest and rapine, which since the invasion 
of Texas, find but too much favour among the daring population of the 
frontiers. Judging from the character and behaviour of the Americans most 
prominent in the recent aggressions on Upper Canada, they seem to have 
been produced mainly by the latter cause ; nor does any cause appear to 
have secured to the insurgents of Lower Canada any very extensive aid, ex- 
cept that in money and munitions of war, of which the source cannot very 
clearly be traced. Hardly any Americans took part in the recent distur- 
bances in Lower Canada. Last year the outbreak was the signal for nu- 
merous public meetings in all the great cities of the frontier States from 
Buffalo to New York. At these the most entire sympathy with the insur- 
gents was openly avowed ; large subscriptions were raised, and volunteers 
invited to join. Since the last outbreak no such manifestations have taken 
place. The meetings which the Nelsons and others have attempted in New 
York, Philadelphia, Washington, and elsewhere, have ended in complete 
failure ; and, at the present moment, there does not exist the slightest indica- 
tion of any sympathy with the objects of the Lower Canadian insurgents, oti 
of any desire to eo-operate with tbem for political purposes. The danger, 
however, which may be apprehended from the mere desire to repeat the 
scenes of Texas in the Canadas, is a danger from which we cannot be secure, 
while the disaffection of any considerable portion of the population continues 
to give an appearance of weakness to our Government, it is in vain to ex- 
pect that such attempts can wholly be repressed by the Federal Govern- 
ment, or that they could even be effectually counteracted by the utmost ex- 
ertion of its authority, if any sudden turn of affairs should again revive a 
strong and general sympathy with insurrection in Canada. Without dwel- 
ling on the necessary weakness of a merely Federal Government — without 
adverting to the difficulty which authorities dependent for their very exist- 
ence on the popular will, find, in successfully resisting a general manifesta- 
tion of public feeling, the impossibility which any Government would find 
in restraining a population like that which dwells along the thousand miles 
of this frontier must be obvious to all who reflect on the difficulty of main- 
taining the police of a dispersed community. 



104 

Nor is tliis danger itself unproductive of feelings which are in their turn 
calculated to produce yet further mischief. The loyal people of Canada, 
indignant at the constant damage and terror occasioned by incursions from 
the opposite shore,' naturally turn their hostility against the nation and the 
Government which permit, and which they accuse even of conniving at the 
violation of international law and justice. Mutual recriminations are ban- 
died about from one side to the other ; and the very facilities of intercourse 
which keep alive the sympathy between portions of the two populations, 
afford at the same time occasions for the collision of angry passions and na- 
tional antipathies. The violent party papers on each side, and the various 
bodies whose pecuniary interests a war would promote, foment the strife. A 
large portion of each population endeavours to incite its own Government to 
war, and at the same time labours to produce the same result by irritating 
the national feelings of the rival community. Rumours are diligently circu- 
lated by the Canadian press, and every friendly act of the American people 
or Government appears to be systematically subjected to the most unfavour- 
able construction. It is not only to be apprehended that this state of mu- 
tual suspicion and dislike may be brought to a head by acts of mutual re- 
prisals, but that the officers of the respective Governments, in despair of pre- 
serving peace, may take little care to prevent the actual commencement of 
War. 

Though I do not believe that there ever was a time, in which the specific 
relations of the two countries rendered it less likely that the United States 
would imagine that a war with England could promote their own interests, 
yet it cannot be doubted that the disturbed state of the Cauadas, is a serious 
drawback on the prosperity of a great part of the Union. Instead of pre- 
senting an additional field for their commercial enterprise, these Provinces, 
in their present state of disorder, are rather a barrier to their industrial 
energies. The present state of things also occasions great expense to the 
Federal Government, which Ims been under the necessity of largely augment- 
ing its small army, on account chiefly of the troubles of Canada. 

Nor must we forget that whatever assurances and proofs of amicable feel- 
ing we may receive from the Government of the United States, however 
strong may be the ties of mutual pacific interests that bind the two nations, 
together, there are subjects of dispute which may produce less friendly feel- 
ings. National interests are now in question between us, of which the im- 
mediate adjustment is demanded by every motive of policy. These in- 
terests cannot be supported with the necessary vigour, while disaffection in 
a most important part of our North American possessions appears to give an 
enemy a certain means of inflicting injury and humiliation on the Empire. 

But the chances of rebellion or foreign invasion are not those which I re- 
gard as either the most probable or the most injurious. The experience of 
the last two years suggests the occurrence of a much more speedy and disas- 
trous resu't. I dread, in fact, the completion of the sad work of depopulation 
and impoverishment which is now rapidly going on. The present evil is not 
merely that improvement is stayed, and that the wealth and population of 
these Colonies do not increase according to the rapid scale of American pro- 
gress. No accession of population takes place by immigration, and no capi- 
tal is brought into the country. On the contrary, both the people and the 
capital seem to be quitting these distracted Provinces. From the French 
portion of lower Canada there has, for a long time, been a large annual 
emigration of joung men to the northern states of the American Union, in 
which they are highly valued as labourers, and gain good wages, with their 
savings from which they generally return to their homes in a few months 
or years. 1 do not believe that the usual amount of this emigration has been 
increased during the last year, except by a few persons prominently compro- 
mised in the insurrection, who have sold their property and made up their 
minds to a perpetual exile ; but I think there is some reason to believe that, 
among the class of habitual emigrants whom I have described, a great many 
now take up their permanent residence in the United States. But the sta- 
tionary habits and local attachments of the French Canadians render it little 
likely that they will quit their country in great numbers. I am not aware 
that there is any diminution of the British population from such a cause. 



105 

The employment of British capital in the Province is not materially 
checked in the principal branch of trade, and the main evils are the with- 
drawal of enterprising British capitalists from the French portion of the 
country, the diminished employment of the capital now in the Province, and 
the entire stoppage of all increase of the population by means of immigration. 
But from Upper Canada, the withdrawal both of capital and of population 
has been very considerable. I have received accounts from most respectable 
sources of a very numerous emigration from the whole of the Western and 
London districts. It was said by persons who professed to have witnessed it, 
that considerable numbers had for a long time daily passed over from Amherst* 
burgh and Sandwich to Detroit ; and a most respectable informant stated that 
he had seen in one of the districts which I have mentioned, no less than 
fifteen vacant farms together on the roadside. A body of the reforming 
party have avowed, in the most open manner, their intention of emigrating 
from political motives, and publicly invited all who might be influenced by 
similar feelings to join in their enterprise. For this the Mississippi Emigra- 
tion Society has been formed, with the purpose of facilitating emigration from 
Upper Canada to the new territory of the union, called Iowa, on the west 
bank of the Upper Mississippi. The prospectus of the undertaking, and 
the report of the deputies who were sent to examine the country in ques- 
tion, were given in the public press, and the advantages of the new Colony 
strongly enforced by the reformers, and depreciatingly discussed by the 
friends of the Government. The number of persons who have thus emi- 
grated is not, however, I have reason to believe, as great as it has often been 
represented. Many who might be disposed to take such a step cannot sell 
their farms on fair terms ; and though some, relying on the ease with which 
land is obtained in the United States, have been content to remove merely 
their stock and their chattels, yet there are others, again, who cannot at the 
last make the sacrifices which a forced sale would necessitate, and who 
continue, even under their present state of alarm, to remain in hopes of better 
times. In the districts which border on the St. Lawrence, little has, in 
fact, come of the determination to emigrate which was loudly expressed at 
one time. And some, even of those who actually left the country, are said 
to have returned. But the instances which have come to my knowledge in- 
duce me to attach even more importance to the class than to the alleged 
number of the emigrants ; and I can by no means agree with some of the 
dominant party, that the persons who thus leave the country are disaffected 
subjects, whose removal is a great advantage to loyal and peaceable men. 
In a country like Upper Canada, where the introduction of population and 
capital is above all things needful for its prosperity, and almost for its con- 
tinued existence, it would be more prudent, as well as just ; more the inter- 
est as well as the duty of Government, to remove the causes of disaffection, 
than to drive out the disaffected. But there is no ground for asserting that 
all the reformers who have thus quitted the country are disloyal and turbu- 
lent men ; nor indeed is it very clear that all of them are reformers, and 
that the increasing insecurity of person and property have not, without dis- 
tinction of politics, driven out some of the most valuable settlers of the Pro- 
vince. A great impression has been lately made by the removal of one of 
the largest proprietors of the Proviuce, a gentleman who arrived there, not 
many years ago, from Trinidad ; who has taken no prominent, and certainly 
no violent, part in politics ; and who has now transferred himself and his 
property to the United States, simply because in Upper Canada he can find 
no secure investment for the latter, and no tranquil enjoyment of life.-. I 
heard of another English gentleman, who, having resided in the country for 
six or seven years, and invested large sums in bringing over a superior breed 
of cattle and sheep, was, while I was there, selling off his stock and imple- 
ments, with a view of settling in Illinois. I was informed of an individual 
who, thirty years ago, had gone into the forest with his axe on his shoulder, 
and ^with no capital at starting, had, by dint of patient labour,. ac- 
quired a farm and stock, which he had sold for £2,000, with which he 
went into the United States. This man, I was assured, was only a specimen 
of a numerous class, to whose unwearied industry the growth and prosperity 
of the Colony are mainly to be ascribed. They are now driven from it, on 

o 



IM 

ascount of the present insecurity of all, who having in former times htem 
identified in politics with some of those that subsequently appeared as promi- 
nent actor* in the revolt, are regarded and treated as rebels, though they 
bad held themselves completely aloof from all participation in schemes or 
acts of rebellion. Considerable alarm also exists as to the general disposition 
to quit the country, which was said to have been produced by some lata 
measure of the authorities among that mild and industrious, but peculiar 
race of descendants of the Dutch, who inhabit the back part of the Niagara 
District. 

Such are the lamentable results of the political and social evils which have 
so long agitated the Canadas ; and such is their condition, that at the pre. 
sent moment, we are called on to take immediate precautions against dan- 
gers bo alarming as those of rebellion, foreign invasion, and utter exhaustion 
and depopulation. When I look at the various and deep-rooted causes of 
mischief which the past inquiry has pointed out as existing in every institu- 
tion, in the constitution, and in the very composition of society, throughout a 
great part of these Provinces, I almost shrink from the apparent presumption 
of grappling with these gigantic difficulties. Nor shall I attempt to do so in 
detail. I rely on the efficacy of reform in the constitutional system by which 
these Colonies are governed, for the removal of every abuse in their adminis- 
tration which defective institutions have engendered. If a system can be 
devised which shall lay in these countries the foundation of an efficient and 
popular government, ensure harmony, in place of collision, between the va- 
rious powers of the State, and bring the influence of a vigorous public opi- 
nion to bear on every detail of public affairs, we may rely on sufficient reme- 
dies being found for the present vices of the administrative system. 

The preceding pages have sufficiently pointed out the nature of those 
evils, to the extensive operation of which I attribute the vaiious practical 
grievances, aud the present Unsatisfactory condition of the North American* 
Colonies. It is not by weakening, but strengthening the influence of the 
people on its Government j by confining within much narrower bouuds 
than those hitherto allotted to it, and not by extending the interference of 
the Imperial authorities in the details of Colonial affairs, that I believe that 
harmony is to be restored, where dissension has so long prevailed, and a re- 
gularity and vigour hitherto unknown introduced into the Administration of 
these Provinces. It needs no change in the principles of Government, no 
invention of a new constitutional theory, to supply the remedy which would, 
in my opinion, completely remove the existing political disorders. It needs 
but to follow out consistently the principles of the British Constitution, and 
introduce into the Government of these great Colonies those wise provisions, 
by which alone the working of the representative system can in any country 
be rendered harmonious and efficient. We are not now to consider the po- 
licy of establishing representative government in the North American Colo- 
nies. That has been irrevocably done ; and the experiment of depriving 
the people of their present constitutional power is not to be thought of. To 
Conduct their government harmoniously, in accordance with its established 
principles, is now the business of its rulers ; and I know not how it is possi- 
ble to secure that harmony, in any other way than by administering the gov- 
ernment on those principles which have been found perfectly efficacious in 
Great Britain. I would not impair a single prerogative of the Crown ; on 
the contrary, I believe that the interests of the people of these Colonies re- 
quire the protection of prerogatives, which have not hitherto been exercised. 
But the Crown must, on the other hand, submit to the necessary consequen- 
ces of representative institutions ; and if it has to carry on the government 
in unison with a representative body, it must consent to carry it on by means 
of those in whom that representative body has confidence. 

In England this principle has been so long considered an indisputable and 
essential part of our constitution, that it has really hardly ever been found 
necessary to inquire into the means by which its observance is enforced. 
When a ministry ceases to command a majority in parliament on great ques- 
tions of policy, its doom is immediately sealed ; and it would appear to us as 
strange to attempt, for any time, to carry on a government by means of 
ministers perpetually in a minority, as it would be to pass laws with a majority 



107 

<B? votes against them. The ancient constitutional remedies, by impeachment 
and a stoppage of the supplies, have never, since the reign of William III, 
been brought into operation for the purpose of removing a ministry. They 
have never been called for, because, in fact, it has been the habit of minis- 
ters rather to anticipate the occurrence of an absolutely hostile vote, and to 
retire, when supported only by a bare and uncertain majority. If Colonial 
Legislatures have frequently stopped the supplies, if they have harrassed 
public servants by unjust or harsh impeachments, it was because the removal 
of an unpopular administration could not be effected in the colonies, by those 
milder indications of a want of confidence, which have always sufficed to 
attain the end in the Mother Country. 

The means which have occasionally been proposed in the colonies them- 
selves, appear to me by no means calculated to attain the desired end in the 
best way. These proposals indicate such a want of reliance on the willing- 
ness of the Imperial Government to acquiesce in the adoption of a better 
system, as, if warranted, would render an harmonious adjustment of the diffe- 
rent powers of the state utterly hopeless. An elective executive Council 
would not only be utterly inconsistent with monarchical Government, but 
would really, under the nominal authority of the Crown, deprive the com- 
munity of one of the great advantages of an hereditary monarchy* Every 
purpose of popular control might be combined with every advantage of vest- 
ing the immediate choice of advisers in the Crown, were the Colonial Gover- 
nor to be instructed to secure the co-operation of the Assembly in his policy, 
by intrusting its administration to such men as could command a majority, 
and if he were given to understand that he need count on no aid from home, 
in any difference with the Assembly, that should not directly involve the 
relations between the Mother Country and the Colony. This change might 
be effected by a single despatch containing such instructions ; or if any legal 
enactment were requisite, it would only be one that would render it neces- 
sary that the official acts ©f the Governor should be countersigned by some 
public functionary. This would induce responsibility for every aet of the 
Government, and, as a natural consequence, it would necessitate the sub- 
stitution of a system of administration, by means of competent heads of de- 
partments, for the present rude machinery of an Executive Council. The 
Governor, if he wished to retain advisers not possessing the confidence of the 
existing Assembly, might rely on the effect of an appeal to the people, and if 
unsuccessful, he might be coerced by a refusal of supplies, or his advisers 
might be terrified by the prospect of impeachment. But there can be no 
reason for apprehending that either party would enter on a contest when 
each would find its interest in the maintenance of harmony ; and the abuse 
of the powers which each would constitutionally possess, would cease when 
the struggle for larger powers became unnecessary. Nor can I conceive 
that it would be found impossible or difficult to conduct a Colonial Govern- 
ment with precisely that limitation of the respective powers, which has 
been so long and so easily maintained in Great Britain. 

I know that it has been urged, that the principles which are productive of 
harmony and good government in the Mother Country are by no means appli- 
cable to a Colonial Dependency. It is said that it is necessary that the admi-- 
nistration of a Colony should be carried on by persons nominated without any 
reference to the wishes of its people ; that they have to carry into effect the 
policy, not of that people but of the authorities at home ; and that a Colony 
which should name all its Administrative functionaries would, in fact, 
cease to be dependant. I admit that the system which I propose would, in fact, 
place the internal Government of the Colony in the hands of the Colonists 
themselves ; and that we should thus leave to them the execution of the Laws 
of which we have long intrusted the making solely to them. Perfectly aware 
of the value of our Colonial possessions, and strongly impressed with the 
necessity of maintaining our connection with them, I know not in what respect 
it can be desirable that we should interfere with their internal Legislation in 
matters which do not effect their relations with the Mother Country. The 
matters which so concern us are very few. The constitution of the form of 
Government — the regulation of foreign relations, and of trade with the Mothe'r 
Country, ths other British Colonies, and foreign nations, and the disposal of 



the public lands, are the only points on which the Mother Country require 
a control. This control is now sufficiently secured by the authority of the Im 
perial Legislature, by the protection which the Colony derives from us agains 
foreign enemies, by the beneficial terms which our Laws secure to its trade, 
and by its share of the reciprocal benefits which would be conferred by a wise 
system of colonisation. A perfect subordination on the part of the Colony on 
these points is secured by the advantages which it finds in the continuance of 
its connection with the Empire. It certainly is not strengthened, but greatly 
weakened, by a vexatious interference on the part of the home Government 
with the enactment of Laws for regulating the internal concerns of the Colony, 
or in the selection of the persons intrusted with their execution. The Colo- 
nists may not always know what Laws are best for them, or which of their 
countrymen are the fit test for^conducting their affairs ; but, at least, they have 
a greater interest in coming to a right judgment on these points, and will take 
greater pains to do so, than those whose welfare is very remotely and slightly 
affected by the good or bad Legislation of these portions of the Empire. If the 
Colonists make bad Laws, and select improper persons to conduct their af- 
fairs, they will generally be the only, always the greatest sufferers ; and, like the 
people of other countries, they must bear the ills which they bring on them- 
selves, until they choose to apply the remedy. But it surely cannot be the duty 
or the interest of Great Britain to keep a most expensive military possession of 
these Colonies, in order that a Governor or secretary-of-state may be able to 
confer Colonial appointments on one rather than another set of persons in the 
Colonies, for this is really the only question at issue. The slightest acquaint- 
ance with these Colonies proves the fallacy of the common notion, that any con- 
siderable amount of patronage in them is distributed among strangers from the 
Mother Country. Whatever inconvenience a consequent frequency of changes 
among the holders of office may produce is a necessary disadvantage of free 
Government, which will be amply compensated by the perpetual harmony 
ivhich the system must produce between the people and its rulers. Nor do I 
fear that the character of the public servants will, in any respect, suffer from a 
more popular tenure of office. For I can conceive no system so calculated to 
fill important posts with inefficient persons as the present, in which public 
opinion is too little consulted in the original appointment, and in which it is 
almost impossible to remove those who disappoint the expectations of their 
usefulness, without inflicting a kind of brand on their capacity or integrity. 

I am well aware that many persons, both in the Colonies and at home, view 
the system which I recommend with considerable alarm, because they distrust 
the ulterior views of those by whom it was originally proposed, and whom they 
suspect of urging its adoption, with the intent only of enabling them more 
easily to subvert monarchical institutions, or assert the independence of the 
Colony. I believe, however, that the extent to which these ulterior views 
exist has been greatly overrated. We must not take every rash expression of 
disappointment, as an indication of a settled aversion to the existing consti- 
tution ; and my own observation convinces me that the predominant feeling of 
all the English population of the North American Colonies is that of devoted 
attachment to the Mother Country. I believe that neither the interests nor the 
feelings of the people are incompatible with a Colonial Government wisely 
and popularly administered. The proofs, which many who are much dissatis- 
fied with the existing administration of the Government, have given of their 
loyalty, are not to be denied or overlooked. The attachment constantly exhibi- 
ted by the people of these Provinces towards the British Crown and Empire, 
has a|I the characteristics of a strong national feeling. They value the insti- 
tutions o f their country, not merely from a sense of the practical advantages 
which they confer, but from sentiments of national pride ; and they uphold them 
the more, because they are accustomed to view them as marks of nationality, 
which distinguish them from their republican neighbours. I do not mean to 
affirm that this is a feeling which no impolicy on the part of the Mother Country 
will be unable to impair ; but 1 do most confidently regard it as one which may, 
if rightly appreciated, be made the link of an enduring and advantageous con- 
nection. The British people of the North American Colonies are a people on 
whom we may safely rely, and to whom we must not grudge power. For it is 
not to the individuals who have been loudest in demanding the change, that I 
propose to concede the responsibility of the Colonial Administration, but to 



ioy 

the people themselves. Nor can I conceive that any people, or any considera- 
ble portion of a people, will view with dissatisfaction a change which would 
amount simply to this, that the Crown would henceforth consult the wishes o 
the people in the choiceof its servants. 

The important alteration in the policy of the Colonial Government which 
I recommend, might be wholly, or in great part, effected, for the present, by 
the unaided authority of the Crown ; and I believe that the great mass of dis- 
content in Upper Canada, which is not directly connected with personal irrita- 
tion, arising out of the incidents of the .late troubles, might be dispelled by an 
assurance, that the Government of the Colony should henceforth be carried on 
in conformity with the views of the majority in the Assembly. But I think that, 
for the well-being of the Colonies, and the security of the Mother Country, 
it is necessary that such a change should be rendered more permanent than a 
momentary sense of the existing difficulties can insure its being. I cannot 
believe that persons in power in this country will be restrained from the inju- 
dicious interference with the internal management with these Colonies,which I 
deprecatejwhile they remain the petty and divided communities which they now 
are. The public attention at home is distracted by the various and sometimes 
contrary complaints of these different contiguous Provinces. Each now urges 
its demands at different times, and in somewhat different forms, and the inter- 
est which each individual complainant represents as in peril, are too petty to 
attract the due attention of the Empire. But if these important and extensive 
Colonies should speak with one voice, if it were felt that every error of our 
Colonial policy must cause a common suffering and a common discontent 
throughout the whole wide extent of British America, those complaints would 
never be provoked ; because no authority would venture to run counter to the 
wishes of such a community, except on points absolutely involving the few Im- 
perial interests which it is necessary to remove from the jurisdiction of Colonial 
legislation. 

It is necessary that I should also recommend what appears to me an essential 
limitation on the present powers of the Representative bodies in these Colonies. 
I consider good Government not to be attainable, while the present unrestricted 
powers of voting public money, and of managing the local expenditure of the 
community, are lodged in the hands of an Assembly. As long as a revenue 
is raised which leaves a large surplus after the payment of the necessary ex- 
penses of the Civil Government, and as long as any member of the Assembly 
may, without restriction, propose a vote of public money, so long will the As- 
sembly retain in its hands the powers which it everywhere abuses, of misap- 
plying that money. The prerogative of the Crown, which is constantly exercised 
in Great Britain for the real protection of the people, ought never to have 
been waved in the Colonies ; and if the rule of the Imperial Parliament, that no 
money vote should be proposed without the previous consent of the Crown, were 
introduced into these Colonies, it might be wisely employed in protecting the 
public interests, now frequently sacrificed in that scramble for local appropria- 
tions, which chiefly serves to give an undue influence to particular individuals 
or parties. 

The establishment of a good system of municipal institutions throughout 
these Provinces, is a matter of vital importance A general Legislature, which 
manages the private business of every parish, in addition to the common busi- 
ness of the country, wields a power which no single body, however popular 
in its constitution, ought to have — a power which must be destructive of any 
Constitutional balance. The true principle of limiting popular power, is that 
apportionment of it, in many different depositaries, which has been adopted 
in all the most free and stable States of the Union. Instead of confiding the 
whole collection and distribution of all the revenues raised in any country for 
all general and local purposes, to a single Repressntative body, the power of 
local assessment, and the application of the funds arising from it, should be 
intrusted to local management. It is in vain to expect that this sacrifice of 
power will be voluntarily made by any Representative body. The establish- 
ment of municipal institutions for the whole country, should be made a part of 
every Colonial Constitution, and the prerogative of the Crown should be con- 
stantly interposed, to check any encroachment on the functions of the local 
bodies, until the people should become alive, as, most assuredly, they almost 
immediately would be, to the necessiiy of protecting their local privileges. 



no 

The establishment of a sound and general system for the management of the 
lands and the settlement of the Colonies, is a necessary part of any good and 
durable system of Government. In a Report, contained in the Appendix to 
the present, the plan which I recommend for this purpose will be fully developed. 

These general principles apply, however, only to those changes in the system 
of Government which are required, in order to rectify disorders common to all 
the North American Colonies ; but they do not, in any degree, go to remove 
those evils, in the present state of Lower Canada, which require the most im- 
mediate remedy. The fatal feud of origin, which is the cause of the most 
extensive mischief, would be aggravated, at the present moment, by any 
change which should give the majority more power than they have hitherto 
possessed. A plan, by which it is proposed to insure the tranquil Government 
of Lower Canada must include in itself the means of putting an end to the 
agitation of national disputes in the Legislature, by settling, at once and for 
ever, the national character of the Province. I entertain no doubts as to the 
national character which must be given to Lower Canada \ it must be that of 
the British Empire — that of the majority of the population of British America — 
that of the great race which must, in the lapse of no long period of time, be pre- 
dominant over the whole North American Continent. Without effecting the 
change so rapidly or so roughly as to shock the feelings, and trample on the 
welfare of the existing generation, it must henceforth be the first and steady 
purpose of the British Government to establish an English population, with 
English laws and language, in this Province, and to trust its Government to 
none but a decidedly English Legislature. 

It may be said that this is a hard measure to a conquered people ; that the 
French were origianlly the whole, and still are the bulk, of the population, of 
Lower Canada ; that the English are new comers, who have have no right to 
demand the extinction of the nationality of a people among whom commer- 
cial enterprise has drawn them. It may be said, that if the French are not 
so civilised, so energetic, or so money-making a race as that by which they 
are surrounded, they are an amiable, a .virtuous, and a contented people, pos- 
sessing all the essentials of material comfort, and not to be despised or ill-used, 
because they seek to enjoy what they have, without emulating the spirit of 
accumulation which influences their neighbours. Their nationality is, alter all, 
an inheritance, and they must not be too severely punished, because they have 
dreamed of maintaining on the distant banks of the St. Lawrence, and trans- 
mitting to their posterity the language, the manners, and the institutions of that 
great nation, that for two centuries gave the tone of thought to the European 
Continent. If the disputes of the two races are irreconcilable, it may be urged 
that justice demands that the minority should be compelled to acquiesce in the 
supremacy of the ancient and most numerous occupants of the Province, and 
not pretend to force their own institutions and customs on the majority. 

But, before deciding which of the two races is now to be placed in the ascen- 
dant, it is but prudent to inquire which of them must ultimately prevail ; for 
it is not wise to establish to-day that which must, after a hard struggle, be 
reversed tomorrow. The pretensions of the French Canadians to the exclu- 
sive possession of Lower Canada would debar the yet larger English population 
of Upper Canada and the townships, from access to the great natural channel 
of that trade which they alone have created, and now carry on. The possession 
of the mouth of the St. Lawrence concerns not only those who happen to have 
made their settlements along the narrow line which borders it, but all who now 
dwell, or will hereafter dwell in the great basin of that river. For we must 
not look to the present alone. The question is, by what race is it likely that 
the wilderness which now covers the rich and ample regions surrounding the 
comparatively small and contracted districts in which the French Canadians are 
located, is eventually to be converted into a settled and flourishing country 1 
If this is to be done in the British dominions, as in the rest of North America, 
by some speedier process than the ordinary growth of population, it must be by 
immigration from the English isles, or from the United States, the countries 
which supply the only settlers that have entered or will enter the Canadas in 
any large numbers. This immigration can neither be debarred from a passage 
through Lower Canada, nor even be prevented from settling in that province. 
The whole interior of the British dominions must, ere long, be filled with an 
English population, every year rapidly increasing its numerical superiority over 



Ill 

the French. Is it just that the prosperity of this great majority, and of this 
vast tract of country, should he for ever, or even for a while, impeded by the 
artificial bar which the backward laws and civilisation of a part, and a part 
only, of Lower Canada, would place between them and the ocean 1 Is it to be 
supposed that such an English population will ever submit to such a sacrifice 
of its interests ■? 

I must not, however, assume it to be possible that the English Government 
shall adopt the course of placing or allowing any check to the influx of English 
immigration into Lower Canada, or any impediment to the profitable employ- 
ment of that English capital which is already vested therein. The English 
have already in their hands the majority of the larger masses of property in 
the country; they have the decided superiority of intelligence on their side; 
they have the certainty that colonisation must swell their numbers to a majority; 
and they belong ,to a race which wields the Imperial Government, and predo- 
minates on the American continent. If we now leave them in a minority, they 
will never abandon the assurance of being a majority hereafter, and never cease 
to continue the present contest with all the fierceness with which it now rages. 
In such a contest, they will rely on the sympathy of their countrymen at home j 
and if that is denied them, they feel very confident of being able to awaken 
the sympathy of their neighbours of kindred origin. They feel that if the British 
Government intends to maintain its hold of the Canadas^ it can rely on the 
English population alone; that, if it abandons its Colonial possessions, they 
must become a portion of that great Union which will speedily send forth its 
swarms of settlers, and, by force of numbers and activity, quickly master every 
other race. The French Canadians, on the other hand, are but the remains 
of an ancient colonisation, and are and ever must be isolated in the midst of 
an Anglo-Saxon world. Whatever may happen, whatever Government shall 
be established over them, British or American, they can see no hope for their 
nationality. They can only sever themselves from the British Empire by 
waiting till some general cause of dissatisfaction alienates them, together with 
the surrounding Colonies, and leaves them part of an English confederacy ; or, 
if they are able, by effecting a separation singly, and so either merging in the 
American Union, or keeping up for a few years a wretched semblance of feeble 
independence, which would expose them more than ever to the intrusion of 
the surrounding population. 1 am far from wishing- to encourage indiscrimin* 
ately these pretensions to superiority on the part of any particular race ; but 
while the greater part of every portion of the American continent is still un- 
cleared and unoccupied, and while the English exhibit such constant and 
marked activity in colonisation, so long will it be idle to imagine that there 
is any portion of that continent into which that race will not penetrate, or in 
which, when it has penetrated, it will not predominate., It is but a question 
of time and mode — it is but to determine whether the small number of French 
who now inhabit Lower Canada, shall be made English under a Government 
which can protect them, or whether the process shall be delayed until a much 
larger number shall have to undergo at the rude hands of its uncontrolled 
rivals the extinction of a nationality strengthened and embittered by continu- 
ance. 

And is this French "Canadian nationality one, which, for the good merely of 
that people, we ought to strive to prepetuate, even if it were possible ? I know 
of no national distinctions marking and continuing a more hopeless inferiority. 
The language, the laws, the character of the North American continent are 
English : and every race but the English (I apply this to all who speak the 
English language) appears there in a condition of inferiority. It is to elevate 
them from that inferiority that I desire to give to the Canadians our English 
character. I desire it for the sake of the educated classes, whom the distinction 
of language and manners keeps apart from the great empire to which they 
belong. At the best, the fate of the educated and aspiring Colonist is, at pre- 
sent, one of little hope, and little activity ; but the French Canadian is cast 
still further into the shade by a language and habits foreign to those of the 
Imperial Government. A spirit of exclusion has closed the higher professions 
on the educated classes of the French Canadians, more, perhaps, than was 
absolutely necessary ; but it is impossible for the utmost liberality on the part 
of the British government to give an equal position in the general competition 
of its vast population to those who speak a foreign language. I desire the 



112 

amalgamation still more for the sake of the humbler classes. Their. present 
state of rude and equal plenty is fast deteriorating under the pressure of popu- 
lation in the narrow limits to which they are confined. If they attempt to 
better their condition by extending themselves over the neighbouring country, 
they will necessarily get more and more mingled with an English population ; 
if they prefer remaining stationary, the greater part of them must be labourers 
in the employ of English capitalists. In either case it would appear that the 
great mass of the French Canadians are doomed, in some measure, to occupy 
an inferior position, and to be dependent on the English for employment. The 
evils of poverty and dependance would mereiy be aggravated in a tenfold degree 
by a spirit of jealous and resentful nationality, which should separate the 
working class of the community from the possessors of wealth and employers 
of labour. 

I will not here enter into the question of the effect of the mode of life and 
division of property among the French Canadians on the happiness of the peo- 
ple. I will admit, for the moment, that it is as productive of well-being as its 
admirers assert. But, be it good or bad, the period in which it is practicable 
past; for there is not enough unoccupied land left in that portion of the country in 
which English are not already settled to admit of the present French population 
possessing farms sufficient to supply them with their present means of comfort, 
under their system of husbandry. No population has increased by mere births 
so rapidly as that of the French Canadians has since the conquest. At that 
period their number was estimated at 60,000 ; it is now supposed to amount to 
more than seven times as many. There has been no proportional increase of 
cultivation, or of produce from the land already under cultivation ; and the 
increased population has been in a great measure provided for by mere con- 
tinued subdivision of estates. In a report, from a committee of the Assem- 
bly in 1826, of which Mr. Andrew Stuart was Chairman, it is stated, that since 
1784 the population of the seigniories had quadrupled, while the number of 
cattle had only doubled, and the quantity of land in cultivation had only in- 
creased one-third. Complaints of distress are constant, and the deterioration 
of the condition of a great part of the population admitted on all hands. A 
people so circumstanced must alter their mode of life. If they wish to main- 
tain the same kind of rude, but well-provided agricultural existence, it must be 
by removing into those parts of the country in which the English are settled ; 
or if they cling to their present residence, they can only obtain a livelihood by 
deserting their present employment, and working for wages on farms, or in 
commercial occupations under English capitalists. But their present proprietary 
and inactive condition is one which no political arrangements can perpetuate. 
Were the French Canadians to be guarded from the influx of any other popu- 
lation, their condition in a few years would be similar to that of the poorest of 
the Irish peasantry. 

There can hardly be conceived a nationality more destitute of all that can 
invigorate and elevate a people than that which is exhibited by the descendants 
of the French in Lower Canada, owing to their retaining their peculiar lan- 
guage and manners. They are a people with no history, and no literature. 
The literature of England is written in a language which is not theirs, and the 
only literature which their language renders familiar to them is that of a nation 
from which they have been separated by eighty years of a foreign rule, and 
still more by those changes which the revolution and its consequences have 
wrought in the whole political, moral, and social state of France. Yet it is 
on a people whom recent history, manners, and modes of thought, so entirely 
separate from them, that the French Canadians are wholly dependant for almost 
all the instruction and amusement derived from books; it is on this essentially 
foreign literature, which is conversant about events, opinions, and habits of 
life, perfectly strange and unintelligible to them, that they are compelled to be 
dependent. Their newspapers are mostly written by natives of France, who 
have either come to try their fortunes in the Province, or been brought into it 
by the party leaders, in order to supply the dearth of literary talent available 
for the political press. In the same way their nationality operates to deprive 
them of the enjoyments and civilising influence of the arts. Though descended 
from the people in the world that most generally love, and have most success- 
fully cultivated, the drama ; though living on a continent in which almost every 
town, great or small, has an English theatre, the French population of Lower 



113 

Canada, cut oft' from every people that speaks its own language; can support 
no national stage. 

In these circumstances, I should be indeed surprised if the more reflecting 
part of the French Canadians entertained at present any hope of continuing to 
preserve their nationality. Much as they struggle against it, it is obvious that 
the process of assimilation to English habits is already commencing. The 
English language is gaining ground, as the language of the rich and of the 
employers of labour naturally will. It appeared by some of the few returns 
which had been received by the commissioner of inquiry into the state of 
education, that there are about ten times the number of French children in 
Quebee learning English as compared with the English children who learn 
French. A considerable time must, of course, elapse before the change of a 
language can spread over a whole people ; and justice and policy alike require 
that while the people continue to use the French language, their government 
should take no such means to force the English language upon them as would, 
in fact, deprive the great mass of the community of the protection of the laws. 
But I repeat that the alteration of the character of the Province ought to be 
immediately entered on, and firmly, though cautiously, followed up ; that in 
any plan which may be adopted for the future management of Lower Canada, 
the first object ought to be that of making it an English Province ; and that, 
with this end in view, the ascendancy should never again be placed in any 
hands but those of an English population. Indeed, at the present moment this 
is obviously necessary ; in the state of mind in which I have described the 
French Canadian population, as not only now being, but as likely for a long^ 
while to remain, the trusting them with an entire control over this Province 
would be, in fact, only facilitating a rebellion. Lower Canada must be govern- 
ed now, as it must be hereafter, by an English population ; and thus the 
policy which the necessities of the moment force on us, is in accordance with 
that suggested by a comprehensive view of the future and permanent improve- 
ment of the Province. 

The greater part of the plans which have been proposed for the future Go- 
vernment of Lower Canada suggest, either as a lasting or as a temporary and 
intermediate scheme, that the Government of that Province should be consti- 
tuted on an entirely despotic footing, or on one that would vest it entirely in 
the hands of the British minority. It is proposed either to place the Legisla- 
tive authority in a Governor, with a Council formed of the heads of the British 
party, or to contrive some scheme of representation, by which a minority, with 
the form of representation, is to deprive a majority of all voice in the manage- 
ment of its own affairs. 

The maintenance of an absolute form of Government on any part of the 
North American Continent, can never continue for any long time, without ex- 
citing a general feeling in the United States against a power of which the 
existence is secured by means so odious to the people ; and as I rate the pre- 
servation of the present general sympathy of the United States with the policy 
of our Government in Lower Canada as a matter of the greatest importance, I 
should be sorry that the feeling should be changed for one which, if prevalent 
among that people, must extend over the surrounding provinces. The influ- 
ence of such an opinion would not only act very strongly on the entire French 
population, and keep up among them a sense of in'ury and a determination of 
resistance to the Government, but would lead to just as great discontent among 
the English. In their present angry state of feeling, they might tolerate, for a 
while, any arrangement that would give them a triumph over the French ; but 
I have greatly misunderstood their character, if they would long bear a Govern- 
ment in which they had no direct voice. Nor would their jealousy be obviated 
by the selection of a Council from the persons supposed to have their confi- 
dence. It is not easy to know who really possess that confidence ; and 1 sus- 
pect that there would be no surer way of depriving a man of influence over 
them than by treating him as their representative, without their consent. 

The experience which we have had of a Government irresponsible to the peo- 
ple in these Colonies, does not justify us in believing that it would be very 
well administered ; and the great reforms in the institutions of the Province 
which must be made ere Lower Canada can ever be a well-ordered and flou- 
rishing community, can be effected by no Legislature which does not represent 
a great mass of public opinion, 

p 



114 

But the great abjection to any Government of an absolute kind is, that ii is 
palpably of a temporary nature ; that there is no reason to believe that its in- 
fluence, during the few years that it would be permitted to last, would leave 
the people at all more fit to manage themselves j that, on the contrary, be- 
ing a mere temporary institution, it would be deficient in that stability which 
is the great requisite of Government in times of disorder. There is every rea- 
son to believe that a professedly irresponsible Government would be the weak- 
est that could be devised. Every one of its acts would be discussed, not in 
the Colony, but in England, on ulttrly incomplete and incorrect information, 
and run the chance of being disallowed without being understood. The most 
violent outcry that could be raised by persons looking at them through the 
medium of English and Constitutional notions, or by those who might hope 
thereby to promote the sinister purposes of faction at home, would be con- 
stantly directed against them. Such consequences as these are inevitable. 
The people of England are not accustomed to rely on the honest and discreet 
exercise of absolute power ; and it they permit a despotism to be established in 
their Colonies, they feel bound, when their attention happens to be directed to- 
wards them, to watch its acts with vigilance. The Governor and Council 
would feel this responsibility in all their acts j unless they happened to be men 
of much more than ordinary nerve and earnestness, they would shape their po- 
licy so as merely to avoid giving a handle to attacks ; and their measures 
would exhibit all that uncertainty and weakness which such a motive is sure 
to produce. 

With respect to every one of those plans which propose to make the English 
minority an electoral majority by means of new and strange modes of voting 
or unfair divisions of the country, I shall only say, that if the Canadians are to 
be deprived of representative government, it would be better to do it in a 
straightforward way, than to attempt to establish a permanent system of 
government on the basis of what all mankind would regard as mere electoral 
frauds. It is not in North America that men can be cheated by an unreal 
semblance of representative government, or persuaded that they are outvoted, 
when, in fact, they are disfranchised. 

The only power that can be effectual at once in coercing the present disaf- 
fection, and hereafter obliterating the nationality of the French Canadians, is 
that of a numerical majority of a loyal and English population j and the only 
stable government will be one more popular than any that has hitherto existed 
in the North American Colonies. The influence of perfectly equal and popular 
institutions in effacing distinctions of race without disorder or oppression, and 
with little more than the ordinary animosities of party in a free country, is 
memorably exemplified in the history of the State of Louisiana, the laws and 
population of which were French at the time of its cession to the American 
Union. And the eminent success of the policy adopted with regard to that 
state,*points out to us the means by which a similar result can be effected in 
Lower Canada. 

The English of Lower Canada, who seem to infer the means from the result, 
entertain and circulate the most extraordinary conceptions of the course really 
pursued in this instance. On the single fact that in the constitution of Loui- 
siana, it is specified that the public acts of the State shall be " in the language 
in which the constitution of the United States is written," it. has been inferred 
that the federal government in the most violent manner swept away the use of 
the French language and laws, and subjected the French population to some 
peculiar disabilities which deprived them, in fact, of an equal voice in the 
government of the State. Nothing can be more contrary to the fact. Loui- 
siana, on its first cession, was governed as " a district ;" its public officers 
were appointed by the federal government, and as was natural under the cir- 
cumstances of the case, they were natives of the old States of the Union. In 
1812, the district, having the requisite population, was admitted into the Union 
as a State, and admitted on precisely the same terms that any other population 
would have or has been. The constitution was framed so as to give precisely 
the same power to the majority as is enjoyed in the other States of the Union. 
No alteration was then made in the laws. The proof of this is afforded by a 
fact familiar to every person moderately acquainted with the jurisprudence of 
the age. The code, which is the glory of Louisiana and Mr. Livingston, 
was subsequently undertaken under the auspices of the Legislature, in 



115 

consequence of the confusion daily arising in the administration of the English 
and French system of law in the same courts. This change of laws, effected 
in the manner most consonant to the largest views of legislation, was not 
forced on the legislature and people of the state by an external authority, but 
was the suggestion of their own political wisdom. Louisiana is not the only 
State in the Union which has been troubled by the existence of conflicting 
systems of law. The State of New Yor.^, till within a few years, suffered 
under the same evil, which it remedied in the same way, by employing a com- 
mission of its ablest lawyers to digest both systems of law into a common 
code. The contending populations of Lower Canada may well imitate these 
•examples ; and if, instead of endeavouring to force their respective laws upon 
each other, they would attempt an amalgamation of the two systems into one, 
adopting what is really best in both, the result would be creditable to the 
Province. 

Every provision was made in Louisiana for securing to both races a 
perfectly equal participation in all the benefits of the Government. It is 
true that the intention of the Federal Government to encourage the use 
of the English language, was evinced by the provision of the Constitu- 
tion with respect to the language of the records; but those who will re- 
flect how very few people ever read such documents, and how very re- 
cently it is that the English language has become the language of the 
law in this country, will see that such a provision could have little prac- 
tical effect. In all cases in which convenience requires it, the different 
parties use their respective languages in the courts of justice, and in 
both branches of the Legislature. In every judicial proceeding, all doc- 
uments which pass between the parties are required to be in both lan- 
guages, and the laws are published in both languages. Indeed, the 
equal'** 1 o f *h two languages is preserved in the Legislature by a very 
singular contrivance ; the French and English members speak their res- 
pective languages, and an interpreter, as I was informed, after every 
speech, explains its purport in the other language. 

For a long time, the distinction between the two races was the cause 
of great jealousy. The Americans crowded into the State, in order to 
avail themselves of its great natural resources, and its unequalled com- 
mercial advantages ; there, as everywhere else on that continent, their 
energy and habits of business gradually drew the greater part of the 
commercial business of the country into their hands ; and though, I be- 
lieve, a few of the richest merchants, and most of the owners of planta- 
tions, are French, the English form the bulk of the wealthier classes* — 
Year after year, their numbers have become greater, and it is now gene- 
rally supposed that they constitute the numerical majority. It may be 
imagined that the French have borne this with a good deal of dissatis- 
faction ; but as the advantages gained by the English were entirely the 
result, not of favor, but of their superiority in a perfectly free competi- 
tion, this jealousy could excite no murmurs against the Government. — ■ 
The competition made the two races enemies at first, but it has gradual- 
ly stirred the emulation of the less active race, and made them rivals. — ■ 
The jealousies in the city of New Orleans were so great at one time, 
that the Legislature of the State, at the desire of the English, who com- 
plained of the inertness of the French, formed separate municipalities 
for the French and English parts of the city. These two municipalities 
are now actuated by a spirit of rivalry, and each undertakes great public 
works for the ornament and convenience of their respective quarters. 

The distinction still lasts, and still causes a good deal of division ; the 
society of each race is said to be in some measure distinct, but not by 
any means hostile ; and some accounts represent the social mixture to be 
very great. All accounts represent the division of the races as becoming 
gradually less and less marked ; their newspapers are printed in the two 
languages, on opposite pages ; their local politics are entirely merged in 
those of the Union ; and instead of discovering in their papers any ves- 
tiges of a quarrel of races, they are found to contain a repetition of the 
same party recriminations and party arguments which abound in all other 
parts of the Federation, 



116 

The explanation of this amalgation is obvious. The French of Lous*. 
ana, when they were formed into a State in which they were a majority, 
were incorporated into a great nation, of which they constituted an ex- 
tremely small part. The eye of every ambitious man turned naturally to 
the great centre of Federal affairs, and the high prizes of Federal ambi- 
tion. The tone of politics was taken from those by whose hands its 
highest powers were wielded : the Legislation and Government of Loui- 
siana were, from the first, insignificant, compared with the interests in- 
volved in the discussions at Washington. It became the object of every 
aspiring man to merge his French, and adopt completely an American 
nationality. What was the interest of individuals, was also the interest 
of the State. It was its policy to bo represented by those who would ac- 
quire weight in the Councils of the Federation. To speak only a lan- 
guage foreign to that of tne United States was consequently a disqualifi- 
cation ior a candidate for the posts of either Senator or Representative ; 
the French qualified themselves by learning English, or submitting to the 
superior advantages of their English competitors. The representation 
ot Louisiana in Congress is now entirely English, while each of the Fe- 
deral parties in the State conciliates the French feeling by putting up a 
candidate of that race. But the result is, that the Union is never distur- 
bed by the quarrels of these races ; and the French language and manners 
bid fair, in no long time, to follow their laws, and pass away like the 
Dutch peculiarities of New York. 

It is only by the same means — by a popular government, in which an 
English majority shall permanently predominate, that Lower Canada, if 
a remedy for its disorders be not too long delayed, can be tranquilly 
ruled. 

On these grounds, I believe that no permanent or efficient remedy can 
be devised for the disorders of Lower Canada, except a fusion of the Go- 
vernment in that of one or more of the surrounding Provinces; and as I 
am of opinion that the full establishment of responsible Government can 
only be permanently secured by giving these Colonies an increased im- 
portance in the politics of the Empire, I find in union the only means of 
remedying at once and completely the two prominent causes of their 
present unsatisfactory condition. 

Two kinds of union have been proposed— federal and legislative. — By 
the first, the separate legislature oi each Province would be preserved in 
its present form, and retain almost all its present attributes of internal 
legislation, the Federal Legislature exercising no power save in those 
matters of general concern which may have been expressly ceded to it 
by the constituent Provinces. A Legislative Union would imply a com- 
plete incorporation of the Provinces included in it under one Legislature, 
exercising universal and sole Legislative authority over all of them, in 
exactly the same manner as the Parliament legislates alone for the whole 
of the British isles. 

On my first arrival in Canada I was strongly inclined to the project of a 
Federal Union, and it was with such a plan in view that I discussed a 
general measure for the Government of the Colonies with the deputations 
of the Lower Provinces, and with various leading individuals and public 
bodies in both the Canadas. I was fully aware that it might be objected 
that a Federal Union would in many cases produce a weak and rather 
cumbrous Government ; that a Colonial federation must have, in fact, 
little legitimate authority or business, the greater part of the ordinary 
functions of a federation falling Within the scope of the Imperial Legis- 
lature and Executive ; and that the main inducement to federation, which 
is the necessity of conciliating the pretensions of independent states to 
the maintenance of their own sovereignty, could not exist in the case of 
Colonial dependencies, liable to be moulded according to the pleasure of 
the supreme authority at home. In the course of the discussions which 
I have mentioned, I became aware also of great practical difficulties in 
any plan of Federal Government, particularly thoso that must arise in 
the management of the general revenues, which would in such a plan 
have to be again distributed among the Provinces. But I had still more 



117 

strongly impressed on mo tho'grcat advantages of an united Government j 
and 1 was gratified by finding the leading minds of the various Colonics 
strongly and generally inclined to a scherno that would elevate their coun- 
tries into something like a national existence. I thought that it would 
be the tendency of a federation, sanctioned and consolidated by a Mon- 
archical Government, gradually to become a complete Legislative Union ; 
and that thus, while conciliating the French of Lower Canada, by leav- 
ing them the Government of their own Province and their own interna i 
legislation, I might provide for the protection of British interests by the 
general Government, and for the gradual transition of the Provinces into 
a united and homogeneous community. 

But the period of gradual transition is past in Lower Canada. In the pre- 
sent state of feeling among the French population. I cannot doubt that any 
power which they might possess would be used against the policy and the very 
existence of any formof British Government. 1 cannot doubt that any French 
Assembly that shall again meet in Lower Canada will use whatever power, be 
it more or less limited, it may have, to obstruct the Government, and undo 
whatever has been done by it. Time, and the honest co-operation of the various 
parties, would be required to aid the action of a Federal Constitution ; and 
time is not allowed, in the present state of Lower Canada, nor co-operation to 
be expected from a Legislature, of which the majority shall represent its French 
inhabitants. I believe that tranquillity can only be restored by subjecting 
the Province to the vigorous rule of an English majority ; and that the only 
efficacious Government would be that formed by a Legislative Union. 

If the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated at 400,000, the Eng- 
lish inhabitants of Lower Canada at 150,000, and the French at 450,000, the 
Union of the two Provinces would not only give a clear English majority, but 
one which would be increased every year by the influence of English emigration ; 
and I have little doubt that the French, when once placed, by the legitimate 
course of events and the working of natural causes, in a minority, would aban- 
don their vain hopes of nationality. I do not mean that they would immediately 
give up their present animosities, or instantly renounce the hope of attaining 
their end by violent means. But the experience of the two Unions in the British 
Isles may teach us how effectually the strong arm of a popular Legislature 
would compel the obedience of the refractory population; and the hopelessness of 
success would gradually subdue the existing animosities, and incline the French 
Canadian population to acquiesce in their new state of political existence. I 
certainly should not like to subject the French Canadians to the rule of the 
identical English minority with which they have so long been contending ; but 
from a majority emanating from so much more extended a source, I do not 
think they would have any oppression or injustice to fear ; and in this case the 
far greater part of the majority never having been brought into previous collision, 
would regard them with no animosity that would warp their natural sense of 
equity. The endowments of the Catholic church in Lower Canada, and the 
existence of all its present laws, until altered by the united Legislature might 
be secured by stipulations similar to those adopted in the union between Eng- 
land and Scotland. I do not think that the subsequent history of British 
Legislation need incline us to believe that the nation which has a majority in a 
popular Legislature is likely to use its power to tamper very hastily with the 
laws of the people to which it is united. 

The Union of the two Provinces would secure to Upper Canada the present 
great objects of its desires ; all disputes as to the division or amount of the re- 
venue would cease ; the surplus revenue of Lower Canada would supply the 
deficiency of that part of the Upper Province ; and the Province thus placed 
beyond the possibility of locally jobbing the surplus revenue, which it cannot 
reduce, would, I think, gain as much by the arrangement as the Province which 
would thus find a means of paying the interest of its debt. Indeed, it would be 
by no means unjust to place this burden on Lower Canada, inasmuch as 
the great public works for which the debt was contracted, are as much the 
concern of one Province as the other. Nor is it to be supposed that, whatever 
may have been the mismanagement in which a great part of the debt originated, 
the canals of Upper Canada will always be a source of loss instead of profit, 
The completion of the projected and necessary line of public works would be 
promoted by such an Union. The access to the sea would be secured to Upper 



118 

Canada. The saving of public money which would be ensured by the union 
of various establishments in the two Provinces, would supply the means of con- 
ducting the general government on a more efficient scale than it has yet been 
carried on. And the responsibility of the Executive would be secured by the 
increased weight which the representative body of the united Province would 
bring to bear on the Imperial Government and Legislature. 

But while I convince myself that such desirable ends would be secured by 
the Legislative Union of the two Provinces, I am inclined to go further, and in- 
quire whether all those objects would not more surely be attained by extend- 
ing this Legislative Union over all the British Provinces in North America ; 
and whether the advantages which I anticipate for two of them might not, and 
should not, injustice, be extended over all. Such an Union would at once de- 
cisively settle the question of races ; it would enable all the Provinces to co- 
operate for all common purposes 3 and, above all, it would form a great and 
powerful people, possessing the means of securing good and responsible govern- 
ment for itself, and which, under the protection of the British Empire, might, in 
some measure, counterbalance the preponderant and increasing influence of the 
United States on the American continent. I do not anticipate that a Colonial 
Legislature, thus strong, and thus self-governing, would desire to abandon the 
connection with Great Britain. On the contrary, 1 believe that the practical 
relief from undue interference, which would be the result of such a change, 
would strengthen the present bond of feelings and interests ; and that the con- 
nection would only become more durable and advantageous, by having more 
of equality, of freedom, and of local independence. But, at any rate, our first 
duty is to secure the well being of our Colonial countrymen ; and if, in the hid- 
den decrees of that wisdom by which this world is ruled, it is written, that these 
countries are not for ever to remain portions of the Empire, we owe it to our 
honour to take good care that, when they separate from us, they should not be 
the only countries on the American continent in which the Anglo-Saxon race 
shall be found unfit to govern itself. 

I am, in truth, so far from believing that the increased power and weight 
that would be given to these Colonies by Union, would endanger their connec- 
tion with the Empire, that I look to it as the only means of fostering such a 
national feeling throughout them, as would effectually counterbalance what- 
ever tendencies may now exist towards separation. No large community of 
free and intelligent men will long feel contented with a political system which 
places them, because it places 1heir country, in a position of inferiority to their 
neighbours. The Colonist of Great Britain is linked, it is true, to a mighty 
Empire, and the glories of its history, the visible signs of its present power, 
and the civilization of its people, are calculated to raise and gratify his national 
pride. But he feels, also, that his link to that Empire is one of remote depen- 
dence ', he catches but passing and inadequate glimpses of its power and pros- 
perity ; he knows that in its Government he and his own countrymen have no 
voice. While his neighbour on the other side of the frontier assumes impor- 
tance, from the notion that his vote exercises some influence on the Councils, 
and that he himself has some share in the onward progress of a mighty nation, 
the Colonist feels the deadening influence of the narrow and subordinate com- 
munity to which he belongs. In his own and in the surrounding Colonies, he 
finds petty objects occupying petty, stationary, and divided societies ; and it is 
only when the chances of an uncertain and tardy communication bring intelli- 
gence of what has passed a month before on the other side of the Atlantic, 
that he is reminded of the Empire with which he is connected* But the influ- 
ence of the United States surrounds him on every side, and is for ever present. 
It extends itself as population augments and intercourse increases ; it pene- 
trates every portion of the continent into which the restless spirit of American 
speculation impels the settler or the trader ; it is felt in all the transactions of 
commerce, from the important operations of the monetaiy system down to the 
minor details of ordinary traffic ; it stamps on all the habits and opinions of 
the surrounding countries the common characteristics of the thoughts, feelings, 
and customs of the American people. Such is necessarily the influence which 
a great nation exercises on the small communities which surround it. Its 
thoughts and manners subjugate them, even when nominally independent of it3 
authority. If we wish to prevent the extension of this influence, it can only be 
done by raising up for the North American colonist some nationality of his own, 



119 

by elevating these small and unimportant communities into a society having 
some objects of a national importance, and by thus giving their inhabitants a 
country which they will be unwilling to see absorbed even in one more powerful. 
While I believe that the establishment of a comprehensive system of Govern- 
ment, and of an effectual Union between the different Provinces, would produce 
this important effect on the general feelings, of their inhabitants. I am inclined 
to attach very great importance to the influence which it would have in giving 
greater scope and satisfaction to the legitimate ambition of the most active and 
prominent persons to be found in them. As long as personal ambition is 
inherent in human nature, and as long as the morality of every free and civilized 
community encourages its aspirations, it is ore great business of a wise Govern- 
ment to provide for its legitimate developement. If, as it is commonly asserted^ 
the disorders of these Colonies have, in great measure, been fomented by the 
influence of designing and ambitious individuals, this evil will best be remedied 
by allowing such a scope for the desires of such men as shall direct their ambi- 
tion into the legitimate chance of fathering, and not of thwarting their Govern- 
ment. By creating high prizes in a general and responsible Government, we 
shall immediately afford the means of pacifying the turbulent ambitions, and of 
employing in worthy and noble occupations the talents which now are only 
exerted to foment disorder. We must remove from these Colonies the cause to 
which the sagacity of Adam Smith traced the alienation of the Provinces which 
now form the United States : we must provide some scope for what he calls 
" the importance of the leading men in the Colony," beyond what he forcibly 
terms the present " petty prizes of the paltry raffle of Colonial faction." A 
general Legislative Union would elevate and gratify the hopes of able and 
aspiring men. They would no longer look with envy and wonder at the great 
arena of the bordering federation, but see the means of satisfying every legiti- 
mate ambition in the high offices of the Judicature and Executive Government 
of their own Union. 

Nor would a union of the various Provinces be less advantageous in facilita- 
ting a co-operation for various common purposes, of which the want is now very 
seriously felt. There is hardly a department of the business of Government which 
does not require, or would not be better performed, by being carried on under the 
superintendence of a general government ; and when we consider the political 
and commercial interests that are common to these Provinces, it appears diffi- 
cult to account for their having ever been divided into separate Governments, 
since they have all been portions of the same empire, subject to the same 
crown, governed by the same laws and constitutional customs, inhabited, with 
one exception, by the same race, contiguous and immediately adjacent to 
each other and bounded along their whole frontier by the territories of the same 
powerful and rival state. It would appear that every motive that has induced 
the union of various Provinces into a single state exists for the consolidation of 
these Colonies, under a common legislature and executive. They have the 
same common relation to the Mother Country — the same relation to foreign 
nations. When one is at war, the others are at war ; and the hostilities 
that are caused by an attack on one must seriously compromise the welfare of 
the rest. Thus the dispute between Great Britain and the State of Maine ap 
pears immediately to involve the interests of none of these Colonies, except 
New Brunswick or Lower Canada, to one of which the territory claimed by us 
must belong. But if a war were to commence on this ground it is most proba- 
ble that the American government would select Upper Canada as the most 
vulnerable, or, at any rate, as the easiest point of attack. A dispute respecting 
the fisheries of Nova Scotia would involve precisely the same consequences' 
An union for common defence against foreign enemies is the natural bond of 
connection that holds together the great communities of the world ; and be- 
tween no parts of any kingdom or state is the necessity for such an union more 
obvious than between the whole of these Colonies. 

Their internal relations furnish quite as strong motives for Union. The Post 
Office is, at the present moment, under the management of the same Imperial 
establishment. If, in compliance with the reasonable demands of the Colonies, 
the regulation of a matter so entirely of internal concern, and the revenue de- 
rived from it, were placed under the control of the Provincial Legislatures, it 
would still be advisable that the management of the Post Office, throughout 
the whole of British North America, should be conducted by one general es- 



120 

tiiblishmcnL In the same way, so great is the influence on the other Provinces, 
of the arrangements adopted with respect to the disposal of public lands and 
colonization in any one, that it is absolutely essential that this department of 
government should be conducted on one system and by one authority. The 
necessity of common fiscal regulations, is strongly felt by all the Colonies ; 
and a common Custom House establishment would relieve them from the hin- 
drances to their trade, caused by the duties now levied on all commercial inter- 
course between them. The monetary and banking system of all is subject to 
the same influences, and ought to be regulated by the same laws. The estab- 
lishment of a common colonial currency is very generally desired. Indeed, I 
know of no department of Government that would not greatly gain, both in 
economy and efficiency, by being placed under a common management. I 
should not propose, at first, to alter the existing public establishments of the 
different Provinces, because the necessary changes had better be left to be 
made by the united Government; and the judicial establishments should cer- 
tainly not be disturbed until the future Legislature shall provide for their re- 
construction on an uniform and permanent footing. But even in the adminis- 
tration of justice, an union would immediately supply a remedy for one of the 
most serious wants under which all the Provinces labour, by facilitating the 
formation of a general appellate tribunal for all the North American Co- 
lonies. 

But the interest which are already in common between all these Provinces 
are small in comparison with those which the consequences of such an union, 
might, and I think I may say assuredly would, call into existence ; and the 
great discoveries of modern art, which have throughout the world, and no 
where more than in America, entirely altered the character and the channels 
of communication between distant countries, will bring all the North Ameri- 
can Colonies into constant and speedy intercourse with each other. The suc- 
cess of the great experiment of steam navigation across the Atlantic opens a 
prospect of a speedy communication with Europe, which will materially affect 
the future state of all these Provinces. In a despatch which arrived in Canada 
after my departure, the Secretary of State informed me of the determination 
of your Majesty's Government to establish a steam communication between 
Great Britain and Halifax, and instructed me to turn my attention to the for- 
mation of a road between that port and Quebec. It would, indeed, have given 
me sincere satisfaction, had I remained in the Province, to promote, by any 
means in my power, so highly desirable an object ; and the removal of the 
usual restrictions on my authority as Governor General having given me the 
means of effectually acting in concert with the various Provincial Govern- 
ments, I might have been able to make some progress in the work. But I cannot 
point out more strikingly the evils of the present want of a general Govern- 
ment for these Provinces, than by adverting to the difficulty which would prac- 
tically occur, under the previous and present arrangements of both executive 
and legislative authorities in the various Provinces, in attempting to carry such 
a plan into effect. For the various colonies have no more means of concerting 
such common works with each other than with the neighbouring states of the 
union. They stand to one another in the position of foreign states, and of 
foreign states without diplomatic relations. The Governors may correspond 
with each other; the Legislatures may enact laws, carrying the common pur- 
poses into effect in their respective jurisdictions ; but there is no means by 
which the various details may speedily and satisfactorily be settled with the 
concurrence of the different parties. And, in this instance, it must be recol- 
lected that the communication and the final settlement would have to be made 
between, not two, but several of the Provinces. The road would run through 
three of them-; and Upper Canada, into which it would not enter, would, in 
fact, be more interested in the completion of such a work than any even of the 
Provinces through which it would pass. The colonies, indeed, have no com- 
mon centre in which the arrangement could be made, except the Colonial 
office at home ; and the details of such a plan would have to be discussed just 
where the interest of all parties would have the least means of being fairly and 
fully represented, and where the minute local knowledge necessary for such a 
matter would be least likely to be found. 

The completion of any satisfactory communication between Halifax 
and Quebec would, in fact, produce relations between these Provinces 



121 

lhat Would render a general union absolutely necessary. Several sur- 
veys have proved that a railroad would be perfectly practicable the whole 
way. Indeed, in North America, the expense and difficulty of making a 
rail road bears by no means the excessive proportion to those of a com- 
mon road that it does in Europe. It appears to be a goneral opinion in 
the United Slates, that the severe snows and frosts of that Continent 
very slightly impede, and do not prevent the travelling on rail-roads ; and, 
if I am rightly informed, the Utica rail-road, in the northern part of the 
State of New York, is used throughout the winter. If this opinion be 
correct, the formation of a rail-road from Halifax to Quebec would en- 
tirely alter some of the distinguishing characteristics of the Canadaa. 
Instead of being shut out from all direct intercourse with England during 
half the year, they would possess a far more certain and speedy commu- - 
nieation throughout the winter than they now possess in summer. The 
passage from Ireland to Quebec would be a matter of 10 or 12 days, and ■ 
Halifax would be the great port by which a large portion of the trade, 
and all the conveyance of passengers to the whole of British North Ame- 
rica would be carried on. But even supposing these brilliant prospects to 
be such as we could not reckon on seeing realised, I may assume that it 
is not intended to make this road without a well founded belief that it 
will become an important channel of communication between the Upper 
and Lower Provinces. In either case, would not the maintenance of 
such a road, end the mode in which theGovernment is administered in the 
different Provinces, be matters of common interest to all ? If the great 
natural channel of the St. Lawrence gives all the people who dwell in 
any part of its basin, 6uch an interest in the Government of the whole as 
renders it wise to incorporate the two Canadas, the artificial work which 
would, in fact, supersede the lower part of the St. Lawrence, as the out- 
let of a great part of the Canadian trade, and would make Halifax in a 
great measure an outportto Quebec, would surely in the same way ren- 
der it advisable that the incorporation should be extended to Provinces 
through which such a road would pass. 

With respect to the two small colonies of Prince Edward's Island and 
Newfoundland, I am of opinion that not only would most of the reasons 
which I have given for an union of the others apply to them.but that their 
smallness makes it absolutely necessary,as the only means of securing any 
proper attention to their interests, and investing them with that conside. 
ration, the deficiency of which they have so much reason to lament in 
all the disputes which yearly occur between them and the citizens of the 
United States, with regard to the encroachments made by the latter on 
their coasts and fisheries. 

The views on which I found my support of a comprehensive union 
have long been entertained by many persons in these colonies, whose 
opinion is entitled to the highest consideration. I cannot, however, re- 
frain from mentioning the sanction of such view by one whose authority, 
your Majesty will, I may venture to say, receive with the utmost respect. 
Mr. Sewell, the late chief justice of Quebec, laid before me an autograph 
letter addressed to himself, by your Majesty's illustrious and lamented fa- 
ther, in which his royal highness was pleased to express his approbation 
of a similar plan then proposed by that gentleman. No one better under, 
stood the interests and character of these colonies than his royal high- 
ness ; and it is with peculiar satisfaction, therefore, that I submit to your 
Majesty's perusal the important document which contains his royal high- 
ness's opinion in favour of such a scheme : — 

" Kensingtok Palace, Nov. 30, 1814. 
" My bear Sewell, — I have this day had the pleasure of receiving your note 
of yesterday, with its interesting enclosure ; nothing can be better arranged than 
the whole thing is, or more perfectly I cannot wish ; and when I see an opening 
it is fully my intention to hint the matter to Lord Bathurst, and put the paper into 
his hands, without, however, telling him from whom I have it, though I shall 
urge him to have some conversation with you relative to it. Permit me, however, 
just to ask you whether it was not an oversight in you to state that there are five 
Houses of Assembly in the British Colonies in North America ; for if I am not 
under an error, there are six— viz: Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia 3 and 

9 



122 

New Brunswick, the islands of Prince Edward and Cape Breton. Allow me te 
beg of you to put down the proportions in which you think the thirty Members of 
the Representative Assembly ought to be furnished by each Province; and, finally, 
to suggest whether you would not think two Lieutenant-Governors, with two Ex- 
ecutive Councils, sufficient for the Executive Government of the whole — viz : one 
for the twoCanadas, and one for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, comprehend- 
ing the small dependencies of Cape Breton and Prince Edward's Island ; the for- 
mer to reside at Montreal, and the latter at whichever of the two situations may 
be considered most central for the two Provinces, whether Anapolis Royal or 
Windsor. But, at all events, should you even consider four Executive Govern- 
ments and four Executive Councils requisite, I presume there cannot be a ques- 
tion of the expediency of comprehending the two small islands in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence with Nova Scotia. Believe me ever to remain, with the most friendly 
regard, my dear Sewell, yours faithfully. 

" Edward." 

I know of but one difficulty in the way of such an Union, and that 
arises from the disinclination which some of the lower Provinces might 
feel to the transference of powers from their present Legislature to that 
of the Union. The objection to this would arise principally I imagine, 
from their not liking to give up the immediate control which they now 
have over the funds by which their local expenditure is defrayed. I have 
given such a view of the evils of this system, that I cannot be expected 
to admit that an interference with it would be an objection to my plan. I 
think, however, that the Provinces would have a right to complain if these 
powers of local management, and of distributing funds for local purpo- 
ses, were taken from the Provincial Assemblies on\y to be placed in the 
yet more objectionable hands of a General Legislature. Every precau- 
tion should, in my opinion, be taken to prevent such a power, by any 
possibility, falling into the hand of the Legislature of the Union. In 
order to prevent that, I would prefer that the Provincial Assemblies 
should be retained with merely municipal powers. But it would be 
far better, in point both of efficiency and economy, that this power should 
be intrusted to the municipal bodies of much smaller districts ; and the 
formation of such bodies would, in my opinion, be an essential part of 
any durable and complete Union. 

With such views, I should, without hesitation, recommend the imme- 
diate adoption of a general Legislative Union of all the British Provin- 
ces of North America, if the regular course of Government were sus- 
pended or periled in the lower Provinces, and the necessity of the imme- 
diate adoption of the plan for their government, without reference to 
them, a matter of urgency, or if it were possible to delay the adoption of 
a measure with respect to the Canadas, until a project of an union could 
have been refered to the Legislatures of the Lower Provinces. But the 
state of the Lower Province, though it justifies the proposal of an union, 
would not, I think, render it gracious or even just, on the part of Par- 
liament to carry it into effect, without referring it for the ample delibera- 
tion and consent of the people of those colonies. Moreover, the state of 
the two Canadas is such that neither the feelings of the parties con- 
cerned, nor the interests of the crown or the colonies themselves, will 
admit of a single session, or even of a large portion of a session,|of parlia- 
ment being allowed to pass, without a definite decision by the Imperial 
Legislature as to the basis on which it purposes to found the future Go- 
vernment of those Colonies. 

In existing circumstances, the conclusions to which the foregoing con. 
siderations lead me is, that no time should be lost in proposing to parlia. 
ment a bill lor repealing the 31st of Geo. III., restoring the union of the 
Canadas under one Legislature, and reconstituting them as one Pro- 
vince. 

The bill should contain provisions by which any or all of the other 
North American colonies may, on the application of the Legislature, be, 
with the consent of the two Canadas, or their united Legislature, admitted 
into the union on such terms as may be agreed on between them. 

As the mere amalgamation of the Houses of Assembly of the two Pro- 
vinces would not be advisable, or give at all a due share of representation 
' o each, a parliamentary commissiou should be appointed, for the purpose 



12S 

of forming the electoral divisions and determining the number of mem- 
bers to be returned, on the principle of giving representation, as near as 
may be, in proportion to population, I am averse to every plan that has 
been propo3ed for giving an equal number of members to the two Pro- 
vinces, in order to attain the temporary end of outnumbering the French r 
because I think the same object will be obtained without any violation 
of the principles of representation, and without any such appearance of 
injustice in the scheme as would set public opinion, both in England and 
America, strongly against it ; and because, when emigration shall have 
increased the English population in the Upper Province, the adoption of 
such a principle would operate to defeat the very purpose it is intended 
to serve. It appears to me that any snch electoral arrangement, founded 
on the prasent provincial divisions, would tend to defeat the purposes of 
union, and perpetuate the idea of disunion. 

At the same time, in order to prevent the confusion and danger likely 
to ensue from attempting to have popular elections in districts recently 
the seats of open rebellion, it will be advisable to give the Governor a 
temporary power of suspending by proclamation, stating specifically the 
grounds of his determination, the writs of electoral districts in which he 
may be of opinion that elections could not safely take place. 

The same commission should form a plan of local Government by elec- 
tive bodies subordinate to the General Legislature , and exercising a com- 
plete control over such local affairs as do not come within the province 
of General Legislation. The plan so framed should be made an Act of 
the Imperial Parliament ; so as to prevent the General Legislature from 
encroaching on the powers of the local bodies. 

A general executive on an improved principle should be established, 
logether with a supreme court of appeal, for all the NorthAmerican Co. 
lonies. The other establishments and laws of the two colonies should be 
left unaltered, until the Legislature of the union should think fit to change 
them; and the security of the existing endowments of the Catholic 
Church in Lower Canada should be guaranteed by the Act. 

The constitution of a second Legislative body for the united Legislature 
involves questions of very great difficulty. The present constitution of 
the Legislative Councils of these Provinces has always appeared to me 
inconsistent with sound principles, and little calculated to answer the 
purpose of placing the effective check which I consider necessary on the 
popular branch of the Legislature. The analogy which some persons 
have attempted to draw between the House of Lords and the Legislative 
Councils, seems to me erroneous. The constitution of the House of 
Lords is consonant with the frame of English society ; and as the crea- 
tion of a precisely similar body in such a state of society as that of these 
colonies is impossible, it has always appeared to me most unwise to at- 
tempt to supply its place by one which has no point of resemblance to it,, 
except that of being a non-elective check on the elective branch of the 
Legislature. The attempt to invest a few persons distinguished from 
their fellow colonists neither by birth nor hereditary property, and often 
only transiently connected with the country, with such a power, seems 
only calculated to ensure jealousy and bad feeling in the first instance, 
and collision at last. I believe that when the necessity of relying in 
Lower Canada on the English character of the Legislative Council as a 
check on the national prejudices of a French Assembly, shall be removed 
by the union, few persons in the colonies will be found disposed in favour 
of its present constitution- Indeed the very fact dt union will compli- 
cate the difficulties which have hitherto existed, because a satisfactory 
choice of councillors would have to be made with reference to the varied 
interests of a much more numerous and extended community. 

It will be necessary, therefore, for the completion of any stable scheme 
of Government, that Parliament should revise the constitution of the Le- 
gislative Council, and by adopting every praticable means to give that 
institution such a character, as would enable it, by its tranquil and safe, 
but effective working, to act as a useful check on the popular branch of 



124 

the Legislature, prevent a repetition of those collisions; which have a], 
ready caused such dangerous irritations. 

The plan which I have framed for the management of the public lands 
being intended to promote the common advantage of the colonies and of 
the mother country, I therefore propose that the entire administration of 
it should be confided to an imperial authority. The conclusive reasons 
which have induced me to recommend this course will be found at length 
in the separate Report on the subject of public lands and emigration. 

All the revenues of the Crown, except those derived from this source, 
should at once be given up to the united Legislature, on the concession 
of an adequate civil list. 

The responsibility to the united Legislature of all officers of the Go- 
vernment, except the Governor and his secretary, should be secured by 
every means known to the British constitution. The Governor as the 
representative of the Crown, should be instructed that he must carry on 
his Government by heads of departments, in whom the united Legisla- 
ture should repose confidence, and that he must look for no support from 
home in any contest with the Legislature, except on points involving 
strictly imperial interests. 

The independence of the judges should be secured, by giving them tho 
same tenure of office and security of income as exist in England. 

No money votes should be allowed to originate without the previous 
consent of the Crown. 

In the same Act should be contained a repeal of past provisions with 
respect to tha clergy reserves, and the application of the funds arising 
from them. 

In order to promote emigration on the greatest possible scale, and 
with the most beneficial results to all concerned, I have elsewhere 
recommended a system of measures which has been expressly framed 
with that view, after full inquiry and careful deliberation. Those 
measures would not subject cither the colonies or the Mother Country 
to any expense whatever. In conjunction with the measures suggested 
for disposing of public lands, and remedying the evils occasioned by 
past mismanagement in that department, they form a plan of colonisation 
to which I attach the highest importance. The objects, at least, with 
which the plan has been formed are to provide large funds for emigration, 
and for creating and improving means of communication throughout the 
Provinces ; to guard emigrants of the labouring class against the present 
risks of the passage; to secure for all of them a comfortable resting place, 
and employment at good wages immediately on their arrival ; to encourage 
the investment of surplus British capital in these colonies, by render- 
ing it as secure and as profitable as in the United States ; to promote the 
settlement of wild lands and the general improvement of the colonies ; to 
add te the value of every man's property in land ; tc extend the demand 
for British manufactured goods, and the means of paying for them, in pro- 
portion to the amount of emigration and the general increase of the 
colonial people ; and to augment the colonial revenues in the same 
degree. 

When the details of the measure, with the particlar reasons for each 
©f them, are examined, the meansproposed will I trust be found as simple 
as the ends are great ; nor have they been suggested by any fanciful or 
merely speculative view of the subject. They are founded on the facts 
given in evidence by practical men ; on authentic information as to the 
wants and capabilities of the colonies; on an examination of the 
circumstances which occasion so high a degree of prosperity in the 
neighbouring states ; on the efficient working and remarkable re- 
sult of improved methods of colonisation in other parts of the British 
empire, in some measure on the deliberate proposal of a committee of the 
House of Commons; and, lastly on the favourable opinion of every 
intelligent person in the colonies whom I consulted with respect to 
them. They involve, no doubt, a considerable change of systew, or 
rather the adoption of a system where there has been none. But this, 
considering the number and magnitude of past errors, and the present 



125 

wretched economical state of the colonies seem rather a recommendation 
than an objection. I do not flatter myself that so much good can be 
accomplished without an effort; but in this, as in other suggestions, I 
have presumed that the Imperial Government and Legislature will ap- 
preciate the actual crisis in the affairs of these colonies, and will not 
shrink from any exertion that may be necessary to preserve them to tho 
empire. 

By the adoption of the various measures here recommended 1 venture 
to hope, that the disorders of these colonies may be arrested, and their 
future well-being and connection with the British Empire secured. Of 
the certain result of my suggestions I cannot, of course, speak with 
entire confidence, because it seems almost too much to hope that eviJs of 
so long growth and such extent, can be removed by the tardy application 
of even the boldest remedy ; and because I know that as much depends 
upon the consistent vigour and prudence of those who may have to carry 
it into effect as on the soundness of the policy suggested. The deop- 
rooted evils of Lower Canada will require great firmness to remove them. 
The disorders of Upper Canada, which appear to me to originate entirely 
in mere defects of is constitutional system, may, I believe, be removed 
by adopting a more sound and consistent mode of administering the 
Government. We may derive some confidence from the recollection 
that very simple remedies yet remain to be resorted to for the first time ; 
and we need not despair of governing a people who really have hitherto 
very imperfectly known what it is to have a government. 

I have made no mention of emigration, on an extented scale, as a cure 
for political disorders, because it is my opinion, that until tranquility is 
restored, and a prospect of free and stable Government is held out, no* 
emigrant should be induced to go to, and that few would at any rate re- 
main in Canada. But if, by means which I have suggested, or by any 
other, peace can be restored, confidence created, and popular and vigour- 
ous Government established, I rely on the adoption of a judicious sys- 
tem of colonisation as an effectual barrier against the recurrence of many 
of the existing evils. If I should have miscalculated the proportions in 
whieh the friends and the enemies of British connection may meet in the 
united Legislature, one year's emigration would redress the balance It 
is by a sound system of colonisation that we can render these extensive 
regions available for the benefit of the British people. The mismanage, 
ment by which the resources of our colonies have hitherto been wasted 
has, I know, produced in the public mind too much of a disposition to 
regard them as mere sources of corruption and loss, and to entertain, 
with too much complacency the idea of abandoning them as useless. I 
cannot participate in the notion that it is the part either of prudence or 
of honour to abandon our countrymen, when our government of them 
has plunged them into disorder, or our territory, when we discover that 
we have not turned it to proper account. The experiment of keeping 
colonies and governing them well, ought at least to bave a trial, ere we 
abandon for ever the vast dominion which might supply the wants of our 
surplus population, and raise up millions of fiesh consumers of our man. 
ufactures, and producers of a supply for our wants. The warmest admi. 
rers and the strongest opponents of republican institutions, admit or assert 
that the amazing prosperity of the United States is less owing to their 
form of government than to the unlimited supply of fertile land, which 
maintains succeeding generations in an undiminishing affluence of fertile 
soil. A region as large and as fertile is open to your Majesty's subjects 
in your Majesty's American dominions. The recent improvements of the 
m3ans of communication will, in a short time, bring the unocu pid lands 
of Canada and New Brunwick within as easy a reach of the British Isles 
as the territories of Iowa and Wisconsin are to the incessant emigration 
that annually quits New England for the far west. 

I see no reason, therefore, for doubting that by good government and 
the adoption of a sound system of colonisation, the British possessions 
in North America may thus be mstde the means of conferring on the suf, 
fering class of the Mother Country many of the blessings which have 



126 

hitherto been supposed to be peculiar to the social state of the new 
world. 

In conclusion, I must earnestly impress on your Majesty's advisers, 
and on the Imperial Parliament, the paramount necessity of a prompt and 
decisive settlement of this important question, not only on account of the 
extent and variety of interests involving the welfare and security of the 
British empire, which are periled by every hour's delay, but on account of 
the state of feeling which exists in the public mind througout all your 
Majesty's North American possessions and more especially the two Ca- 
nadas. 

In various despatches addressed to your Majesty's secretary of state, 
I have given a full description of that 6tate of feeling, as I found it evin- 
ced by all classes and all parties, in consequence of the events which oc<- 
curred in the last session of the British parliament. I do not allude now 
to the French Canadians, but to the English population of both provin. 
ces. Ample evidence of their feelings will be found in the addresses 
which were presented to me from all parts of the Nurth American colo- 
nies, and whieh I have inserted in an appendix to this report. But, 
strong as were the expressions of regret and disappointment at the sud- 
den annihilation of those hopes which the English had entertained of 
seeing a speedy and satisfactory termination of that state of confusion 
and anarchy under which they had so long laboured, they sunk into in- 
significance when compared with the danger arising from those threats 
of separation and independence, the open and general utterance of 
which was reported to me from all quarters. 1 fortunately succeeded in 
calming this irritation for the time by directing the public mind to the 
prospect of those remedies which the wisdom and beneficence of your 
Majesty must naturally incline your Majesty to sanction, whenever they 
are brought under your Majesty's consideration. But the good effects 
thus produced by the responsibility which I took upon myself will be 
destroyed. All these feelings will recur with redoubled violence; and 
the danger will become immeasurably greater, if such hopes are once 
more frustrated, and the Imperial Legislature fails to apply an immediate 
and final remedy to all those evils of which your Majesty's subjects in 
America so loudly complain, and of which I have supplied such ample 
evidence. 

For these reasons I pray your Majesty's earnest attention to this Re- 
port. It is the last act arising out of the loyal and conscientious dis- 
charge of the high duties imposed upon me by the commission with which 
your Majesty was graciously pleased to intrust me. I humbly hope that 
your Majesty will receive it favourably, and believe that it has been dic- 
tated by the most devoted feeling of loyalty and attachment to your Ma- 
jesty's person and throne, by the strongst sense of public duty, and by 
the earnest desire to perpetuate and strengthen the connexion between 
this empire and tbe North American colonies, v»hich would then form 
one of the brightest ornaments in your Majesty imperial crown. 
All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty. 

DURHAM. 

London, January, 31, 1839. 



INDEX. 



Pages. 
Preliminary Remarks — » 1—5 

Lower Canada 5— 55 

Upper Canada 55 — 73 

Eastern Provinces and Newfoundland 73 — 77 

Disposal of Public Lands— Emigration 77 — 99 

Conclusion , 99—126 



I 



REPORT 






! 



AFFAIRS OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



FROM '. i 



HAXL OF DURHAM, 



iER MAJESTY'S HIGH COMMISSIONER, 



! 



th Houses of (he Imperial Parliament, on the -llth of 
February, 1839.) 



I! 



; :'■■.. 

! 

I'Ki: 1,'RIEIl OFFICE, ST. FRANCOIS XAVIER ST1; T 

1339. 



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